The magic of classic era graphics

[u/Foreign_Storm_7484]

I recently played an old version of World of Warcraft and then I played the new version of Classic Wow, with some graphical improvements, and something bothered me in the new version. I messed around with the options a little and realized that what bothered me most was the current shadows. I was only satisfied when I set the shadow to low and it looked similar to the original version of the game, with vibrant and highlighted colors, and lighting that, despite being less realistic, makes the atmosphere more fantasy-like. I noticed that the modern shadows make the game lose its magic and dull the colors, and it looks like a strange middle ground between something realistic and something fantasy.

I've noticed this because no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to like almost any current game. I feel extremely bored and sleepy after just a few minutes of playing, or I get lost in so many menus and intense camera movements that I become stressed and anxious. On the other hand, old games capture my attention as always and have a relaxing and calming effect on me. This satisfying effect is the combination of low-resolution textures, subtle camera movements and epic soundtracks. This is the well-being I seek. That's the feeling I want to have.

I think this combination causes an effect on the brain that is as if the mind completes the image, as if it stimulates the brain to look at a castle with textures in low resolution and the mind is forced to use more imagination, something different from seeing something ultra realistic and full of details but it will stay on the screen for 10 seconds and you will walk and change to another scene with a lot more details. There's something different about how the mind processes old graphics compared to modern ones. It's as if the first causes relaxation, as if you were sleeping and having beautiful dreams, and the second causes exhaustion, tiredness and stress.

[u/RubiiJee]

I'm not convinced... I'll be honest, this just sounds like nostalgia talking. Your brain is associating positive memories with the visuals and then you're conflating that with net positivity.

[u/Foreign_Storm_7484 → u/RubiiJee]

I thought several times if it could just be me looking at things through the lens of nostalgia, but I concluded that it wasn't. I still use ps1, ps2 and n64 emulators, I play several games that I have never played in my life and the feeling is exactly the same as always. The quality of the works is so good that they have survived the decades. Many, many games are still fun and beautiful and with captivating stories, games that even playing for the first time today can touch you deeply. I finished ff9 for the first time and wow, what an impeccable work. There's love there. It has emotion and cinema. It has strong characters and an incredible soundtrack. The next day I played the new Spider Man for PS5, and my god, what a hell of a game. the combat is extremely irritating, the camera made me dizzy, a lot of noise, explosions and infinite details but nothing holds my attention. The movement is stuck, avoiding objects is not fun. It just seemed like a big show of graphics and how much it is possible to fry your brain with a lot of information at the same time.

[u/nascentt → u/Foreign_Storm_7484]

Nostalgia for the style not for the specific games.

[u/bvanevery → u/nascentt]

Liking a style better doesn't have to be nostalgia. I'm not "nostalgic" for the works of Monet for instance. He's just a better painter than a lot of other people.

[u/MysteriousAlpaco → u/bvanevery]

Love the gaslighting and hand waving "it's just nostalgia" 👋

[u/bvanevery → u/MysteriousAlpaco]

Yeah I don't like Lawrence of Arabia for the nostaliga either. It's just a better movie than a lot of other things.