I still play AoE2 all the time. The Definitive Edition though because the small scale resolutions did not survive well on larger screens.According to the topic, I was stuck in 1999.
For PC : Age of Empires 2. Realistic 2D graphics, immersive UI, immersive music and voices, and impressive intro cinematic.
For console : Soul Calibur and Shenmue. Epic graphics, technical fighting system, realistic character design, stunning music + voice acting.
Have to go with Crysis for sure. Way back in 2007 and it shattered every norm in terms of graphic quality and physics. The destructible environments, water physics, all the attention to detail. I dare say it was revolutionary back then and it still looks incredible today. I might even go as far as say that graphics today don't look much better than back then so I'd be fine with that level.
Honestly innovation has taken a back seat and my gut tells me its console limitation that stalled progress, here's to hoping with next gen companies will push the limit more. It always bothers me to see all of these tech demos that look jaw-dropping but we never see any games come close to graphical quality or physics interactivity.
I just want a game to push the limits in all the directions again. The fact that older games look as good if not better than modern titles is unfortunate.
That's having thousands of surfaces that all independently move and have both "weight and momentum" that are bumping into themselves and reacting. As nice as it would look, that would also be a headache to try to create flawlessly.
Having said that, I would not want graphics to equal reality, it would be boring, imo, to make video games basically movie simulations.
I shared this frustration when games shifted from 2 to 3 D ( about 2000). A lot was lost in game play and new games seemed to always require new computers.For me the point in time was when graphics cards became so pricy that they can sometimes cost more than the rest of the computer combined and it feels like they release a new must have model every year.
Progress isnt a bad thing sure, but the problem?
Game devs focus on making their game as visually impressive as possible at the expense of everything else *Coughs* which also alienates a HUGE portion of the gaming community.(Too me at least) The 1080 still feels new yet we have already had the 20 and now 30 series of cards in what feels like a very short period of time and im betting, no sooner will people have their 3080's saved for an installed, and a 40 series will be released which increases graphics performance by a whole 1% more but that 1% will be enough to render a large chunk of the gaming community's cards useless.
If devs were smart they would support lower end cards as much as the higher end.