>>15280838
Precisely right.
I wrote about this a week or two ago in a different thread, but the parent thread was deleted so no one ever saw my post. Here we go, round 2.
I was playing the demo for NuDoom about a month back. Aside from the piss easy gameplay on "ultraviolent" difficulty, the shitty optimization, and really tedious objectives, there was something else about the game that made me not so eager to play the full version.
It's something that games are doing these days, shaping the level geometry in a way where you can't exactly get a clear idea of where you are, where you're supposed to be, and how the level flows together.
For some reason, it has become an industry standard to fill levels with as much CLUTTER as possible in the name of "detail". Anything less, then Reddit will complain about the game looking outdated.
In other words, you can't have a simple hallway without 2 layers of smoke/fog, a bunch of pipes coming out of the walls to the right, a shelf on the wall to the left, and pieces of rubble on either side. And if you have a room wider than 10 feet, you'd better make sure that everything 6 feet in front of you turns into some weird red or blue fog and that you fill it with ALL THAT DETAIL. Forget the fact that the player can't see shit, or properly maneuver around the level. And forget those 15 frames you're losing over that beautifully modeled crate.
But, often, the level design isn't the worst offender. Large amounts of detail might be good in some other genre where the player isn't trying to quickly maneuver the area in first person view. In a more realistic shooter, something like NuDoom's level of detail should be expected and praised.
What I don't like is the crazy amounts of post-processing, special effects, and bad lighting they use in these games.
Holy shit, my first bad experience in the demo was during that first fight with those imps hopping around from pillar to pillar. It was an easy fight, their projectiles are easy to dodge, and they don't move particularly fast so I was able to get a good shot at them. I was on ultra-violent difficulty. Whatever. My issue was that I was in a geometrically shitty level with fog all over the damn place. It's like they NEED to show off their abilities to keep up with modern tech.
>Look guys, we have fog, light beams and smoke ALL in the same room!
It gets really frustrating when I need to visually distinguish every item on screen to my advantage, but I'm constantly bombarded with flashy special effects and post processing that murders my framerate. It makes me feel less like I'm actually in a room trying to murder demons, and more like I'm telling the main character where he needs to aim.
You know, I once read a theory on this board that games with lower quality graphics actually provide better immersion, because the brain will automatically fill in the details. Well, between that and the fact that you can NATURALLY respond to a game with more modest geometry and lighting, I'm starting to believe they're right. Doom 1993 might look like an eyesore upon first glance, but I never felt a sense of confusion or disorientation when playing the original Doom. I never even got sucked out of the game world, it just felt like I was going through halls and shooting the ever loving shit out of demons. Same with other older games I play, the lack of detail in the levels is never a problem. They show only what they need to show. They didn't bombard the player with fog and piles of rocks and "cinematic" effects for screenshot pleasures.
Eyecandy is legitimately killing video games.