The nostalgic filter
One of my favourite PC games was Diablo 2 from around year 2000. I have countless hours in that game. And recently, Blizzard released a resurrected version with updated graphics for modern systems. It is a perfect cash-grab targeting guys like me, but honestly, it is still a very good game so I bought it instantly. I was just too curious to find out what the magicians over at Blizzard could achieve with modern tech. The way that system performance has improved according to Moores law compared to 20 years ago is almost incomprehensible. They have also implemented a button in the game that instantly toggles between legacy mode and modern graphics. When I pushed that button my jaw dropped.
Diablo 2 resurrected is definitely a good-looking game, with everything in 4k cranked to the max. When I pushed the legacy button you enter a time machine to the year 2000. I was shocked of how horribly bad it looked. It was as if someone had barfed pixels at the screen. Only with some imagination can you figure out what you’re looking at. With modern graphics, many of the monsters now have a face and you can see so much detail on them. I remember saying to myself, “Oh, so THAT is what they were supposed to look like!”.
It’s fascinating how the nostalgic filter improves one’s memories. I have never reflected or thought about Diablo 2 as a noteworthy ugly game. I remember it looked okay at least. I guess that when I was young, my imagination was compensating a lot for the detail that was missing from the 800x600 pixels on the screen. That imagination can work wonders. In the movies, I think they call it “show, don’t tell”, which perhaps amount to something similar? Our minds are very good at puzzling together fragments of sensory impressions and create a perception where the result is larger than its parts. Whether it is true or correct, however, is another discussion. When my past self was playing those old PC games, I was completely immersed in the game. And because of that, hi-res graphics just aren’t that necessary, especially if you combine it with good gameplay and a story.
Another good example of the same principle is Minecraft. It can create such beautiful things and I will never forget my first night in Minecraft. The horror of hearing the monsters closing in as the sun sets while you are out of torches, is truly terrifying. It’s one of the most epic gaming moments I have experienced. And as you know, Minecraft is just a bunch of 1x1x1 meter blocks. But when placed in the right way, our minds will fill in the rest.
There’s a saying that you shouldn’t meet your heroes or something like that, in case you get disappointed. Just like many car journalists say that they wished they shouldn’t have test driven the Lamborghini Countach, which was a poster on every boy’s wall in the 1980s. The car looks a lot better than what it is to drive. A LOT better. And sometimes maybe it is best to just keep it that way, in the memory and imagination. But that comparison is not valid with Diablo 2. It was a great game, and it still is a great game. And there are a lot of cars that fill that description too. Not everything is about nostalgia.