Anyone Else Prefer the Vintage Look?

[Yellow Silver Nostalgia]

It might just be nostalgia but I still prefer the look and sound of the older games. I think it might be because the brain is naturally creative, and the clearer pictures and clearer sounds in the newer games give our brains less work to do. I think when we play the modern Pokemon games, our brains get lazy and we get less of an emotional response.

It's like how a lot of people prefer books to movies, and how a commonly used narrative technique is to leave out much of the detail, to allow the reader to use his/her imagination. Or like how we fear (or love) darkness because it's a fear (or love) of the unknown, and it provokes our imaginations to go wild. Or how an artist paints abstract images to convey emotions. We like simplicity because simplicity frees us from the contraints of the illusionary personas in the illusionary world that we live in.

OK that's getting too deep now. Enough of that.

Lavender Town is a great example...

... then...

... and now.

Sure, the latest version has more detail, more colour and more realism, but I'm sure we all get a stronger emotional response from the original Lavender Town, and I think I the same can be said for the music.

Also, in the latest version, your eye gets drawn to certain parts of the town, because of the different colours, which all make us feel different ways. For example, when we see yellow, we think "ooh, a banana!" because of when we were monkeys and we first developed colour vision to find the fruit in the forest. However, in the original Lavender Town... well, it's all lavender. No matter where you are in that town, you feel "in the zone".

Thoughts?

 

[LividZephyr]

The lack of colour and features in RBY is what makes me less likely to play those games. It just isn't as engrossing, because of how blank it is. It's like it's lifeless and dull, and I don't like that.

I'm replaying Crystal right now, and I actually like it even IF the designs don't give any distinction; it does allow my brain to think and ponder creativity as to what they'd look like - and the addition of colour and improved sound help establish it.

I do sort of miss the generic environments I grew up on, but I've moved past RBY. Fr/Lg exist and those are better in my mind because they're not going back too far. Some of RBY's drawbacks are just too much for me to overcome in my age, and playing Silver before them really is something that influences that, I think.

I do understand what you're saying and only partially agree with it. Some of the current designs are somewhat overwhelming, but they feel so much more real. The earlier graphics engines create further cases for imagination, and ultimately, I feel that this is why I'm playing Crystal over SoulSilver. SS just doesn't have the same charm to it...

 

[Vecransyh]

Eh, I prefer the high quality graphics on these new games. It makes it feel as if you've stepped into an new and immersive world. Kinda like bringing Lavender Town off the screen. However the sprites? You look me straight in the face and tell me you DON'T think Blastoise's Red sprite is waaaaaaay cooler then the new ones.

Also diggin' your sig man.

 

[chella182]

I get what you're saying, but I much prefer the newer versions. I love the games at the time, but I recently played through Yellow again and man! I don't know how I put up with it haha. I definitely prefer all of the colours.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

I prefer the new look. The graphics and animations are awesome. There were virtualy no good graphics in gen 1. Nostalgia can obviously play a big factor, and while I love the originals and will play them again there is no way you can make the argument that the old look is better.

 

[infosoft]

I like the new look better. The whole idea of being emotionally invested in looks really puts me off. In a drawing that's necessary, but in an art form that exists for storytelling and brain games, this makes no sense. You should be invested in the gameplay or story, not how it looks. This is as bad as Call of Duty players who swear by the game because it isn't "cartoony". Don't get me wrong, I like my pokemon to have some imagination too, but the looks exist to draw you into the story and gameplay. The only reason they get better and more detailed is because it will let you really understand the game as a real world and be attached to the STORY. The older graphics were really nice for the time too, looking very detailed compared to other RPGs at the time. But it's time too move on, I have high hopes for what level of immersion the 3DS will bring. P.S. - I like Pokemon Colosseum (hint, hint, nudge, nudge).

 

[Kenshin5]

I definitely with out a doubt in my mind prefer newer look as opposed to the old. It definitely hit me when I was training at Virbank Complex I saw the water and how it looked, then at night the light display it just great. Then you can get a scale of the magnitude when you go to say Sky Arrow Bridge and see Castelia or Aspertia Lookout overlooking western Unova or the designs of the gyms like Burgh cocoons or Elesa Runway. Sure playing the old games gives me that "feeling" I supposed but generally I play for the story and the pokemon, so the visuals just add farther too pokemon and their appeal imo.

 

[93Aiwass]

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.​

Do I get a feeling of nostalgia when I see the old Lavender Town? Yes. How could I not?
Would I want the current games to have those graphics? Hell no.

Love is the Law, Love under Will.​

 

[Sydian]

You picked an interesting example. Had you picked almost any other town, I would say I prefer the newer, but Lavender Town just feels like it should be lifeless, dull, and...lavender. Haha. Other towns though, I'd just say I prefer the newer looks. I'm an aesthetic person and like things to look nice. However that doesn't stop me from playing the older games and appreciating them for what they are. You have to take it in differently than you would take it now, I suppose.

 

[Rivvon]

Also, in the latest version, your eye gets drawn to certain parts of the town, because of the different colours, which all make us feel different ways. For example, when we see yellow, we think "ooh, a banana!" because of when we were monkeys and we first developed colour vision to find the fruit in the forest. However, in the original Lavender Town... well, it's all lavender. No matter where you are in that town, you feel "in the zone".

1. Because emphasis and variety are such horrible principles of design to use.
2. Because we always totally think of bananas every single time we see yellow.
3. Because we can view the entire city at once in-game just as presented in the screenshot.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's a weak argument to use. It's clear that most of the desire for the old comes from nostalgia and not much else.

Besides that, however, I think that the "vintage look" is inferior to the look of the newer games, and not simply because of the advanced graphics. As others have mentioned, the older games, being only one color, felt lifeless and dull. I could never immerse myself in such a bland place. The fact that music is simpler doesn't help much either, because it's easier to be distracted by something else. Sure, the newer music can be empowering, but it's a great, amazing kind of empowering, one that really absorbs itself into your senses and fully immerses you into its world. While the older music was still successful at delivering an emotion, the newer music delivers even more powerful emotions, and a wider variety of them, too.

Also, as for the brain "not having to do as much work," the visuals (cities) and music aren't what really stimulate our brain in the first place. It's the plot and dialog, and I don't think anyone could ever argue that the plot and dialog of gen 1 is superior to any of the newer games'.

 

[Yellow Silver Nostalgia]

1. Because emphasis and variety are such horrible principles of design to use.
2. Because we always totally think of bananas every single time we see yellow.
3. Because we can view the entire city at once in-game just as presented in the screenshot.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's a weak argument to use. It's clear that most of the desire for the old comes from nostalgia and not much else.

Correction: "sorry if that sounds harsh, but I think it's a weak argument to use."

1. We don't like complicated things. We're drawn to simple things with common themes and colour schemes. At least, I am.

2. Yes, we totally do always think of bananas every single time we see yellow. Most of the time, you're not conscious of it, but you are most definitely thinking about a tasty treat when you see that colour.

3. What does that have to do with anything? You move around wherever and you are immersed. You could be in the most obscure part of Lavender Town and have a very strong feeling of where you are.

Maybe it's just me. I have a very active mind, and don't enjoy passive activities at all. Pokemon itself is a really boring, repetitive game, heck I don't read the dialogue or follow the plot, I'm just thinking about how cool it would be to actually be in this Pokemon world and using the game as a trigger for those thoughts.

 

[Rivvon]

Correction: "sorry if that sounds harsh, but I think it's a weak argument to use."

1. We don't like complicated things. We're drawn to simple things with common themes and colour schemes. At least, I am.

2. Yes, we totally do always think of bananas every single time we see yellow. Most of the time, you're not conscious of it, but you are most definitely thinking about a tasty treat when you see that colour.

3. What does that have to do with anything? You move around wherever and you are immersed. You could be in the most obscure part of Lavender Town and have a very strong feeling of where you are.

Maybe it's just me. I have a very active mind, and don't enjoy passive activities at all. Pokemon itself is a really boring, repetitive game, heck I don't read the dialogue or follow the plot, I'm just thinking about how cool it would be to actually be in this Pokemon world and using the game as a trigger for those thoughts.

Perhaps you are; that would be your opinion. I know plenty of people who enjoy more complex things. And I don't see at all how introducing a plot that makes you think can be seen as passive. Granted, if you purposefully chose to ignore it, I guess I can see how you would think so. If I chose to ignore something specific, I would think of it as boring and passive, too.

As for the bananas, okay, so Vermillion City was just one giant banana in gen 1, but now in newer games it's bad to use yellow on one specific building?

And alright, since each town is color-coded you would know where you are at any given corner, I will give you that. But now that the newer games are giving each town its own distinct look, you can still tell where you're at without having everything be one bland color with the same houses being reused in every town. Not a bad thing.

 

[Altairis]

I actually don't really agree with the OP or think that the vintage look is better. It looks bland, uninteresting (or, less so than the newer version). It makes me feel like I could be actually in the world instead of being constantly reminded that I'm playing a video game (except for the fact that it's Pokemon, but hopefully you get my point).

I don't really like the older music either, especially because the remakes of the music are so much clearer and more up to date. Sure, the old music is good when you're playing the game but I would never consider it "awesome" or anything like that. I don't usually like the sound that comes with the old games, though occasionally I might (Zelda's Tal Tal Heights ♥) but none of the older Pokemon music really sticks with me.

On a side note, I do like Gen 4's tiles better than BW, the current ones, if that could be considered "vintage."

 

[Hikamaru]

I love the new look much better, especially the newer music, which I think sounds better than the older games. Try and compare Generation 4 and 5's music sound with that of Generations 1-3 and you'll see what I mean.

Also, the location scenery looks much better than the old games.

 

[Ho-Oh]

Imma be different (and shocking) here in that I prefer the earlier games visually. :x Beware, you might think I'm crazy after reading this???

Okay, well, remove RBY, but Gold and Crystal definitely felt like a whole other world to me. I could visualise everything when playing through and there was such intrigue as in what was beyond that, even if it was just simple pixels. Like, Goldenrod... okay no, everywhere. I was young then, I had an active imagination. However, I still have an active imagination. Unova specifically I keep visualising wherever I go (cue calling me crazy), as in, everything reminds me of how Unova in my mind looks, and I just... whatever I look at I can see the "real Unova" in another dimension but yet it's actually here, even if it's something simple. However this isn't always automatic and does involve some effort, whereas with early Johto, I used to dream about it a lot and I think that sparked my imagination back then a lot, so if things remind me of Johto, they just do, rather than for reminding me of Unova where it takes a while. Unova doesn't have a sense of "what's next, what's beyond?" and feels closer to our world, more like a secondary dimension, while the original Johto games feel like a third dimension in that... they are just different. Like the daycare route - that little area with those people, the three that challenge you, when thinking back on that in my mind I can see a whole lot of things, of a distant world (which Unova can do and a lot of those visualisations kind of warp together sometimes). Um, let me describe. I think of like, mid-high, metallic stands, pixellated, but birds nearby, and a raft - not realistic, but of another world. That's what I get from Johto of that area, and I can definitely expand on that. I'm especially interested in Glitch City and the beta screenshots of Johto because it does get me thinking about the actual places that they would be if they were in a third dimension, as opposed to Unova which has the forest-y feel which is kind of more realistic to me. I mean as I said I don't specifically go out to think that, it just happens, which I think is pretty awesome, since anywhere I can kinda warp into Johto or Unova, or it does it for me.

HOWEVER I AM STRAYING FROM THE POINT. I think the thing that makes them stand out personally is that they both had a major role in my life to be able to remember them. Johto was when I really got into Pokemon, and therefore anything relating to that or memories related to that are now therefore the graphics I prefer. Unova on the other hand was originally significant to me too and therefore stood out in my mind, but even before that, a few months before the original B/W games were released, I randomly started getting these visualisations of this city, and then Unova comes along and it kinda matches that, and other places I thought of before the games match up with my visualisations, and even dreams too... I mean they aren't entirely the same but I can just get the feeling that they are related. Due to both (well G/C and B/W) having an impact on me I therefore have a preference to both of those, however while I get these visualisation things of B/W, it's not during playing B/W, and rather outside of playing B/W, while for G/C it's definitely during playing them, which makes me have a preference towards those graphics. Also that tied in with childhood memories gives me a preference to that. I like the unknown, rather than the games telling me to visualise like in HG/SS which didn't really appeal to me because it didn't capture the original thing and I don't visualise anything about HG/SS. No other games do this for me, so ya.

I'm not strange I'm creative? idk. :( I kinda wanted to get my thoughts out there anyway lool. I hope that was all relevant!!

 

[Bounsweet]

I'm sorry OP but I really can't tell if you're serious or if you're just trolling the hell out of us because if it's the latter, you're doing a damn fine job.

I don't think of bananas immediately when I see yellow, I just don't lol. No it's not psychological either; if someone has never seen a banana that won't be their first reaction.

Anyway.

The newer games are way better. In B2W2 there's some music I could just listen to for hours and not get bored. The 8bit stuff is nice sometimes, but it's not something I could actively listen to like some of the newer music.

As for graphics, well that pretty much speaks for itself.

 

[Legobricks]

I always had a prefence, immediately upon going from Crystal to Sapphire, for the older 8-bit aesthetic.
The bright colours and increased detail don't 'feel right'.

 

[blue]

They wouldn't progress or make money if they maintained the same graphics and colouring in RBY, imagine Black 2 & White 2 with RBY graphics. You still have the option to play RBY, some people prefer graphic enhancements since (IMO) it makes the game more realistic.

 

[drpoplove]

I think your style preference depends on what game you played first. I really dig the older stuff but I also like the new style. However, I do find that the new style sometimes looks like a cheesy flash game or something.

 

[h0tshot1025]

Graphics really adds to the gameplay but I think gameplay matters most.
My personal favorite out of the older games is Gold.
It's really unique for me. Although what really gives me the nostalgia is the music.
Old-style graphics are good but it's fun to see graphical improvements once in a while.