If you go back and play Crysis 1 without any graphics mods you will notice that things aren't as great as you remembered.
PS: I don't like extreme contrast, give me headaches
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/\ and if you go back and play Crysis 1 without any graphics mods you will notice that that's not true.
I still play Crysis 1 from time to time, and I never use graphics mods, the game looks good because it looks REALISTIC. It's pretty, but it's still more realistic looking than the super-HDR glow/Lens flares everywhere that is Crysis 2. Graphics mods in Crysis 1 just make the game look like every other game.
And there are way more high detail objects in a Crysis 1 level than in Crysis 2. Crysis 2's backdrops are somewhat faked, showing only parts of the building and nothing below them in the BG, while Crysis 1's are all real.
I completely agree, I never used graphics mods and I thought crysis was still one of the most breathtakingly beautiful games I've ever seen. I could understand using mods to enhance crysis 2, since it doesnt look as realistic as crysis 1, but crysis 1 already looks so good using mods is just completely unneccesary.