The quality of a video game is recognized through various observations regarding, gameplay, sounds, visuals, movement, camera angles and of course
story-line. Aaa, story-lines, all good games are based on great story-lines. Sometimes, a great story is what sells a game, like Final Fantasy for example, but then again there are games that sell due to great visuals, like The Elder Scrolls IV(of course everything is great in this game). But what happens when a game depends on both story and visuals, yet the time-line for the game’s development is short? Naturally, the developing company will have to work less on one of these 2 aspects.
In an interview with GamePro, Deus Ex designer, Warren Spector reckons that working on next-gen graphics may result in the hindering of a game’s story-line: “Is there anything specific that next-gen hardware can provide for us? We can clearly…create more believable characters. These new consoles are roughly equivalent to high-end PCs. But next-gen hardware is not the solution to our story problems [in game development]. In fact, it may be that next-gen hardware is going to make it harder for us to work on story development and character interaction.”
Why is that you ask? If the advancement of technology has proven until now that it makes the completion of some tasks easier, it’s not the same case with video-games. The more advanced the technology, the more attention demanding they become. That’s why next-gen graphics require more working time. Only one question remains: how will developers determine what is most important for a game? Story-line or visuals?
Source: softpedia.com