Why is image quality seperated from FPS in debates?

[PhatoseAlpha]

It's one of those things that has always bewildered me. When an IQ debate comes up around here, it almost always totally discounts FPS, as if games didn't actually move. To me, at least, FPS is a key determinant of IQ in motion pictures - more FPS = smoother motion. Shouldn't this be a key factor in any IQ discussion that isn't about looking at stills? Or rather, any IQ discussion that means anything whatsoever to a gamer?

I mean, higher AF filter quality is nice, as is AA if you're into that kind of thing, but it should be totally tied to it's affect on FPS, since these pictures we look at move, right?

 

[xtknight]

It shouldn't be.

I think most people here are educated and take that in to consideration. Usually there is no big difference anyway.

Edit per your updated post:

I don't know. I'll take the shimmering w/ 50 FPS over 20 FPS any day. I'm not studying the floor at far Z levels when I'm focusing on taking out the enemy helicopter with my mobile AA. Just play the game! We can't expect for graphics to be perfect and keep up the frames at the same time. There is a reason they castrated it. That's why we wait for newer technology to make it faster and more viable. Would you rather have them neuter the sky quality and model quality just to make the floor better filtered? They have to make trade-offs and they made the right choice here.

However I wouldn't say FPS determines Image Quality--rather Motion Quality.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Which is kind of my point. When you're dealing with motion pictures, isn't motion quality a kind of image quality? My fault for the edit, since I prressed post way too soon.

 

[CP5670]

I agree. In fact, I think FPS is the single most important aspect of just image quality alone and want high FPS for that as much as the gameplay benefits. I am almost always ready to turn down graphical settings to get 60fps minimum framerates in games. Although regarding the high quality AF, the performance hit usually isn't too bad. If I use AF at all I put it in HQ mode (on an Nvidia card), since it otherwise creates a shimmering/warping effect in some games that gets a little distracting.

By the way, I guess you are in the same situation as I am, hanging around here a lot more since HLP is still down.