Graphics peaked in the late 6th and early 7th gen. There was no reason to ever progress beyond this point. Games were detailed enough to create convincing worlds with high poly count, good animations, nice lighting effects, etc., but were removed just enough from reality to maintain a "gameyness" and readability that has been lost over the last 15 some odd years. I know OP is shitposting, but you look at that and think "yep, that's a video game". It does, in some strange way, share an essence with games far older than it. When you look at big AAA games today, it looks like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within cranked up to 11 with the most fugly, uncanny characters and overdetailed, visually-mangled environments you've ever seen in your life. Things have gotten worse than you could possibly believe.