I'm surprised Bolivar agreed with Sakeguchi on something, well, that wasn't FFVII related.

Anyway, I do agree with Sakeguchi that the real problem with HD is that it creates the temptation of going overboard in utilizing it. I will not be the first or last to say this was XIII's failure as a game. As for the comments on Western style Rpg getting HD right, I'm with Bolivar on this one. I've been playing through DQVIII and while it lacks the visual quality of FFXII even, the game is still very pretty and grand in its scale.

Fallout 3 is an ugly game with a terrible "FPS color palette" consisting of mostly shades of brown, gray, and black but what makes Fallout 3 a good game isn't its HD quality graphics, its the size and scope of its world. The same goes for XII and DQVIII. The point here isn't really whether a JRPG can be made in HD but whether its actually important for the game and I sorta feel that's what Sakeguchi was getting at.

I'll take a dive in realistic visuals over gameplay and content any day, but this is because I feel the artistic style can come through and make the game better despite the quality of the images. Okami is a visually beautiful game that doesn't require photo-realistic HD caliber graphics. Just because you have a platform that can use an option doesn't mean you have to use it. Art direction can easily make up for lack of fluff on polygon models.