Shadow of the Colossus has bad graphics...

...if you're high, that is. We just got the demo at work today, and some people--the Xbox owners--were remarking at how bad its textures were.

Maybe I'm weird, but I think Shadow of the Colossus has some of the best art design I've ever seen in a game. It follows the lead of Ico with breathtaking imagination. It's like a painting, a child's storybook come to life. And people look at this and all they can think of is texture quality? What planet do I live on? Can somebody tell me?

Of course everyone's entitled to their own opinion. If the visual design of Shadow of the Colossus doesn't grab some people, that's fine. But I'd chalk that up to just basic subjective taste. I am very, very tired of people poo-pooing graphics based on poly-counts, shading tricks, and wachamafuck. God forbid we should have a holistic view of game design.

Oh well. I suppose it's to be expected. Most people think Ray Harryhausen's work is lame compared to the latest CG special effects, so I guess that's just par for the course when you're talking about how the mainstream culture reacts aesthetically to evolving technology.