How Does This Game Have Good Graphics?

[Mirage]

Because its models are high-quality. We're talking about graphic quality, not style. Graphics means quality of the models and the engine that makes them work. Style means how those models are used. Get the difference. When it comes to graphic quality, the amount of data and detail in the 3d models is much better than other games because it was created for new-age consoles, not for some dude's old computer he never updated because he can still play World of Warcraft.

When it comes to style... It works. It's not amazing but it doesn't need to be.

Well, the engine has a few quirks too, such as the poor handling of background/foreground rendering, problems handling two transparent objects overlapping (hair/eyebrows look terrible against water surfaces, for example). Shadows aren't *that* accurate, and you can see double shadows through certain terrain etc. And of course, environmental shadows aren't dynamic, and ambient occlusion uses 5 times as much resources as other games need for it.

Those are the technical flaws. When it comes to subjective flaws, many environmental textures are dull and look plasticy (especially in la noscea). Cloud textures are a bit poorly made too (but they look a lot better with ambient occlusion, too bad they need to fix AO first). And before you ask, yes, I play with the highest texture settings.