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I miss being blown away by new-gen graphics....

kyussman

Member
I think I've been blown away by graphics like four times in my life.....first time was seeing Tomb Raider on PS1,second time was Halo CE on Xbox,third time was Far Cry on PC and the last time was booting up my PS3 for the first time with Motorstorm......everything since then has felt like a smaller incremental increase year after year.Of course all those years add up and games these days are obviously far beyond what Motorstorm was doing,lol......but in terms of really standing out it feels like all AAA games just look really great these days.
I haven't had access to an XSX or PS5 yet though so.
 

-MD-

Member
That's funny, when they revealed all the PS4 launch titles the graphics were pretty underwhelming for me. The last time I was blown away at how good a game looked was Gears of War but I think that had more to do with the fact I was 16 years old.

Good art styles are what catch my eye now, graphic jumps are so minor I barely even notice them.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Yes, i'm impressed, but just as a personal taste, i vastly prefer realistic or semi-realistic artstyles and i'm convinced that it is far more easy to make pixar style graphic than a life like one, it's easy to hide bland textures etc.

That's why nobody compares or critique a graphic flaw in a pixar movie or smaller cg movies but everyone laugh when a star wars movie with far bigger budget is incapable of doing a perfect human cg like it was for tarkin in rogue one.
Real life is harder to replicate in a videogame and that's why it is more impressive to me.

Kena has a very small studio behind and they easily achieved that pixar movie look in their first videogame attempt.
I wouldn't say it's easy to replicate Pixar quality games, Kena is not a good example because i believe they have animated film experience
 

poodaddy

Gold Member
Graphics were never why I played games, and they still aren't. I enjoy a good visual presentation, but that's not really the best part of upgraded hardware to me, quality of life stuff is far more impactful. Better UI, fast load times, higher frame rate for better feeling and more responsive gameplay, stuff like that.
 

GetemMa

Member
The days of videogame graphics having monumental jumps is over and that's good because it means graphics are pretty good.

Videogames should be treated just like films. With film, nobody cares that the cgi is really good If the film is awful.

The order 1866 has great graphics. The game itself is lame.
 
Demon's Souls is very good, but it's not something far beyond what a PS4 can do (except for the resolution).

Every gen have a game that make you think "there is no way the previous gen can run this".
Pilotwings, Ridge Racer, TTT, PGR3.
With PS4/XONE thing were slightly different, Killzone and Ryse were extremely good but not unthinkable for a PS360 (TLOU, GoW).

Demon's Soul looks like a PS4 Pro game with higher resolution, better textures and better shadows. A PS4 PRO PRO game, probably developed with a PS4 in mind for some time.

UE5 proved PS5/XSX can do much more in terms of visual, the next gen is yet to begin.
Finally. Someone with a brain. Quoting for truth.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Then to be fair I can easily say same thing about Demon's Souls remake on PS5. But the OP is delusional and didn't even mention that either.
IDK about DeS, I don't see anything on it that looks "absolutely outstanding" compared to, say, A Plague Tale... People can say "but play it at 4K" and I'll say GC games looked a generational leap over N64 games and they didn't rely on resolution for that, even 360 games compared to PS2 can look way better even if both run on a SD TV...

But hey, I'm one of those expecting big changes this gen, like the ones in Ratched and Clank (and beyond). I just don't see that on DeS, specially since it's the same old game (and logic codebase) with new graphics.
 

gypsygib

Member
Its either,

1440p + 30 FPS = truly nextgen graphics
4K + 30 FPS = meh improvement over lastgen graphics

1080-1440P + 60 FPS = meh improvement over lastgen graphics
4K + 60 FPS = lastgen graphics

And they will probs go to the way of 1080-1440p + 60 FPS. It is not logical to hinder the valuable Zen 2 CPU in these consoles by pushing 30 FPS + higher graphics. GPU will be the bottleneck most of the time, sadly.

I have no quarrel with 30 FPS as long as it allows generational differences. If PS4 targeted 60 FPS you would either see God of War run at 540p or with much worse graphics at 1080p 60 FPS (if they had capable CPU that is)
Given how much games cost to make and how much more expensive another big gen on gen graphical upgrade would be, I think developers would rather go the better performance route.
 

Zannegan

Member
I think you're going to feel less and less impressed as we inch toward photorealism, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I wasn't unhappy with PS4-level visuals, though I would hope that if you keep assets of that level, you'd be able to bring better lighting, cloth simulation, dynamic animations, etc. to make them feel more alive.

Where I miss seeing a real next gen jump is in terms of physics and interactive/interacting systems, and to a lesser degree A.I. So, for my tastes, we haven't seen a "real generational leap" since the 360/PS3 gen.

Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed plenty of games since then, but last gen we had a profusion of pretty, polished worlds that were largely static and non-interactive. If they were interactive, it was almost invariably through context-sensitive, triggered events, not systems always at the player's disposal. There were very few opportunities for "emergent gameplay" in the AAA space. So much so, that even something as simple as BotW felt relatively fresh because it had a few basic systems that worked together in a natural way.

If we could see the integration of things like the Nemesis system from those LotR games and large-scale physics destruction that makes sense (not where every building is a gingerbread house), I'd be more than content to see graphics to take a back seat in this generation.
 

Utherellus

Member
Personally I already got blown away by next gen graphics back in 2020 with Flight Sim. Its just so ambitious in its scale and rendering budget. I launched it for the first time and simply could not believe what I was seeing...

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Alan Wake

Member
Last time I was blown away by a launch game was Dead or Alive 3 and Halo for the OG Xbox. I doubt we'll ever get that next-gen leap again. 60fps is nice and all, but...
 

chasimus

Member
I still don't own a 4K screen so I feel whenever I get that I might see a big difference in already good-looking games. Despite that I still think the difference is notable compared to the base ps4. Demon's Souls looks amazing and 60fps has greatly improved the experience, don't think I could go back. Everything just feels so much sharper
Once I switched Demon's Souls to 60fps it actually became way easier to play. It was like I wasn't playing in mud anymore. I've had a tough time going back to 30fps in any game now
 

assurdum

Banned
Probably the pandemic has slowdown everything. Nothing released until now shows astonishing stuff in terms of graphic if I can say. Nothing against nsomniac, the only who releases new games but their games are too much stylish artistically to give any sense of photorealism, probably it's that the reason of the diminished return.
 
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Stuart360

Member
I think part of the problem is the high resolutions they are targeting this gen, 4k, dynamic 4k, 1800p, etc. It takes so much horepower to run even last gen games at those resolutions.
Also, and not everyone will agree, but for me we just dont get bad looking games anymore (AA, AAA i mean, not some Indie games). I mean how many last gen games can you honestly say looked terrible graphically?. Even with 360 and PS3 games, give them a rez and framerate boost and most of those games still look good today imo.
 

assurdum

Banned
I think part of the problem is the high resolutions they are targeting this gen, 4k, dynamic 4k, 1800p, etc. It takes so much horepower to run even last gen games at those resolutions.
Also, and not everyone will agree, but for me we just dont get bad looking games anymore (AA, AAA i mean, not some Indie games). I mean how many last gen games can you honestly say looked terrible graphically?. Even with 360 and PS3 games, give them a rez and framerate boost and most of those games still look good today imo.
Eeer...I played RE5 on PS4 lately, it's really rough in terms of poly counts and texture, higher res not save it at all.
 

Stuart360

Member
Eeer...I played RE5 on PS4 lately, it's really rough in terms of poly counts and texture, higher res not save it at all.
Well RE5 was a very early game that gen, and i'm pretty sure it used the same engine as Resi 4.
There are still a lot of games though from that gen that IMO look good today at 60fps and higher resolutions. I play a lot of them on PC.

My overall point though was that we dont really get bad looking games anymore, and any game released today with some kind of budget will more often than not look good.
 

GymWolf

Member
Lol...so people is not gonna be impressed when videogames are gonna have this level of fidelity and zero low res textures on screen...sure jan.gif :lollipop_squinting:


(And this is not even the best fidelity achievable...it still looks kinda game-y)
 
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KAL2006

Banned
That's funny, when they revealed all the PS4 launch titles the graphics were pretty underwhelming for me. The last time I was blown away at how good a game looked was Gears of War but I think that had more to do with the fact I was 16 years old.

Good art styles are what catch my eye now, graphic jumps are so minor I barely even notice them.

Na I immediately seen the difference when they showed the first inFamous Second Son footage. The draw distance increase, no jaggies, lighting and particle effects were on another level compared to last gen. Of course if you are a PC gaming it probably wasn't a big jump but I wasn't a PC gamer.

As for 360 gen Gears of War was no doubt a huge jump but I personally think the jump happened earlier than Gears of War. Fight Night Round 3 came out at launch in Europe and that was a massive jump for me in terms of graphics, the models were way more detailed the animation and sweat etc.
 

RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
I've said it before, next gen doesn't start until Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games and Sony Santa Monica release a PS5 ONLY game, non of this cross gen shit but built from the ground up to wring the absolute shit out of the PS5, then we'll see some truly awesome looking games
 

KAL2006

Banned
I've said it before, next gen doesn't start until Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games and Sony Santa Monica release a PS5 ONLY game, non of this cross gen shit but built from the ground up to wring the absolute shit out of the PS5, then we'll see some truly awesome looking games

So basically this gen is the only exception where we need Naughty Dog etc to release a exclusive game. Last gen it was apparent straight away with Battlefield 4, inFamous Second Son, Killzone Shadowfall, Ryse and etc. This gen is the only gen we have people saying wait for certain developers. We already have exclusives like Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart while a improvement not the leap I was expecting.
 

Jon Neu

Banned
Graphically, next gen so far has been extremely dissapointing.

If Hellblade 2 doesn't look at least close to this kind of graphical fidelity:




Then this gen will be a massive dissapointment for me.
 
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Ma-Yuan

Member
I am also not blown away with my ps5... Play mostly ps4 games. And my latest out of my 4 ps5 games since launch was judgement 😂 have the PS4 version but never got to play it and the PS4 doesn't get a free update so I double dipped hope I find the time to play it. But I stick with my assumption... currently the PS5 is just ps4 pro pro ><
 
IDK about DeS, I don't see anything on it that looks "absolutely outstanding" compared to, say, A Plague Tale... People can say "but play it at 4K" and I'll say GC games looked a generational leap over N64 games and they didn't rely on resolution for that, even 360 games compared to PS2 can look way better even if both run on a SD TV...

But hey, I'm one of those expecting big changes this gen, like the ones in Ratched and Clank (and beyond). I just don't see that on DeS, specially since it's the same old game (and logic codebase) with new graphics.
I get your point that its an old game with a new paint of code for visuals. But the SSD and the 60fps is where the game is taking advantages of the new hardware really. By no means Demons Souls is a showstopper. But it is a small early glimpse of what a new generation system can do. Demon Souls is the Killzone Shadowfall of the PS5.
 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
I miss the early days of PS4 when they showcased Killzone Shadowfall, DriveClub, The Order 1886, Infamous Second Son, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part 2... etc.

Every time they showed something for the PS4, I was floored at how good it all looked.

Now-a-days though it's like... HEY IT LOOKS THE SAME AS A PS4 GAME BUT IT HAS 60FPS!!!! WOW 60FPS! SO NEXT GEN!

I'm so sick of it.

The last time I was blown away by something for the PS5, was when they showed off UE5. That's pretty much it. Everything else just looks like last gen stuff with some extra detail and 4K resolution.

I must confess though, I've stayed away from any videos or screenshots of Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart because I wanna go in with fresh eyes. Hopefully this is the game that really makes me think "Man, now this is what next gen can really do"

What are your thoughts? Is 60fps enough to call it "next gen" or do you really wanna see that graphical leap we've come to expect each new generation even if it has to be 30fps.

If a game looks as good as UE5 demo, I'll gladly play it at 30fps.

E0Lg4UwUUAIrKz2
 

Hustler

Member
Not sure how someone isn’t impressed with Demon’s Souls.... that game looks amazing and is buttery smooth experience. Not to mention, we’re at the very beginning of a console generation. Just looks at past consoles as examples of early games and late gen games, big difference in terms of graphics and taking advantage of all the hardware has to offer.

Can’t imagine how developers will be able to take full advantage of the SSD speed when it comes to world building. Ratchet and Clank is just the tip of the iceberg.
 

N1tr0sOx1d3

Given another chance
I've said it before, next gen doesn't start until Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games and Sony Santa Monica release a PS5 ONLY game, non of this cross gen shit but built from the ground up to wring the absolute shit out of the PS5, then we'll see some truly awesome looking games
Right here speaks the truth. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can achieve.
The Coalition will do some incredible things with UE5 too.
 

Phase

Member
Lol...so people is not gonna be impressed when videogames are gonna have this level of fidelity and zero low res textures on screen...sure jan.gif :lollipop_squinting:


(And this is not even the best fidelity achievable...it still looks kinda game-y)
So is this real or 3D? It's awesome if 3D, but this level won't be achieved for games anytime soon. Last time I was blown away was probably Halo CE on xbox. If this becomes a reality in the next 10 years I'll be impressed.
 
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NullZ3r0

Banned
Graphics have reached such an amazing point at this point that we just need to start seeing evolutions in lighting and A.I. RTGI is a big deal, just not many games have utilized it yet in ways that immediately make it stand out. And we've not really seen big jumps in A.I. in a long time because most people hate ACTUALLY being challenged. Everyone says they want a challenge until they lose, so devs/pubs just leave it as it's been.
This isn't true for me. I love good AI, but I hate the way they implement it by just buffing enemy health and nerfing player health and ammo.
 

GuinGuin

Banned
This isn't true for me. I love good AI, but I hate the way they implement it by just buffing enemy health and nerfing player health and ammo.

That's not AI. TLOU2 has brilliant AI. Fight a gang 100 times and they might take 100 different routes and use wildly different tactics against you.
 

muteZX

Banned


- this runs nicely on i7+1070, you can control camera and time of day. Really nice "CG" like gfx .. expect much, much better from the PS5.
 
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GymWolf

Member
So is this real or 3D? It's awesome if 3D, but this level won't be achieved for games anytime soon. Last time I was blown away was probably Halo CE on xbox. If this becomes a reality in the next 10 years I'll be impressed.
Maybe ND or some other wizards are gonna achieve this level by the end of the gen in specific, small locations.
 

hussar16

Member
Demon's Souls is very good, but it's not something far beyond what a PS4 can do (except for the resolution).

Every gen have a game that make you think "there is no way the previous gen can run this".
Pilotwings, Ridge Racer, TTT, PGR3.
With PS4/XONE thing were slightly different, Killzone and Ryse were extremely good but not unthinkable for a PS360 (TLOU, GoW).

Demon's Soul looks like a PS4 Pro game with higher resolution, better textures and better shadows. A PS4 PRO PRO game, probably developed with a PS4 in mind for some time.

UE5 proved PS5/XSX can do much more in terms of visual, the next gen is yet to begin.
There hasnt been a proper next gen title to come out yet for ps5 woth a propernext gen engine.
Demonsouls is a ps4 game made into ps5 game.its not much of upgrade of shadow of collusus.ratchet will be the first and that looked great and next gen on reveal but itits been considerably downgraded in the months to releaseit,it still looks good but doesnt blow you away anynore,lots of shaders and lighting was toned down.
 

GuinGuin

Banned
There hasnt been a proper next gen title to come out yet for ps5 woth a propernext gen engine.
Demonsouls is a ps4 game made into ps5 game.its not much of upgrade of shadow of collusus.ratchet will be the first and that looked great and next gen on reveal but itits been considerably downgraded in the months to releaseit,it still looks good but doesnt blow you away anynore,lots of shaders and lighting was toned down.

Huh? It looks better than ever... I haven't seen anyone else gaslighting about a downgrade. Trying to spark a trend?
 

NullZ3r0

Banned
The main reason OP isn't blown away is due to having mid-gen refreshes of Xbox One and PS4. Thus the graphics floor from "last gen" was actually raised significantly which has changed our perception of what the real leap in visuals actually looks like.

Add to this the fact that everything we've seen for next gen is essentially PS4 Pro/One X games at higher resolutions and framerate.

People talk about Ratchet and Clank but there's not much of a leap visually between it and the previous game running on the Pro.
 
The days of videogame graphics having monumental jumps is over and that's good because it means graphics are pretty good.

Videogames should be treated just like films. With film, nobody cares that the cgi is really good If the film is awful.

The order 1866 has great graphics. The game itself is lame.
I kind of disagree...

With new tech not only comes better visual fidelity, but better processing as well. More npcs, dense enviroments, believable a.i., more variety in nuanced animations, less loading regarding going from one enviroment to the next.

Id prefer all those things in the next level single player experience rather than 60 fps....
 
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