question about brush quality

Hello! I have a quickie (hopefully) Photoshop issue for you all. I use CS2 on a recently reformatted iMac (reinstalled PS and all my patterns/brushes/assets as well). Now though, when I use a brush it looks completely pixelated and grainy rather than smooth or in focus. When I use the brush with the eraser tool, it appears just fine (but it creates extra steps, as you can imagine). Any ideas? Am I missing a setting? I haven't used brushes in quite awhile (I generally stick to large textures, because I make websites).

ETA: *headdesk* 10 years in this program and I never saw the blend mode associated with brushes, specifically. I changed it back to normal and the balance of the force has been restored. Ya' learn something new every day!