>>717824448
Having a well written shader and art direction will always trump graphical fidelity. I remember when launch material for one of the halo games came out (can't remember if it was reach or odst) and Bungie made a huge deal about having x amount of polygons for the wraith chassi, showing off how particles bounced off the hull.

I just kept thinking to myself that they could have achieved the same effect with a particle system and a good shader. This graphical arms race we have today is slowly strangling Vidya as a hobby.