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Horizon Forbidden West Graphics Comparison: PS4 vs. PS5

Vick

Gold Member
funny thing you should say that in a thread about Horizon... I just started the game and the aliasing is brutal...

this seems like it's oversharpened like crazy! the checkerboard rendering in performance mode doesn't help the matter either of course, but still, this shouldn't alias this hard o_O

the checkerboarding in general doesn't look good... it's among the weakest implementations I've seen tbh.

maybe the should have just used native 1440p instead
Mind posting some pics?
 

Boglin

Member
With SFS, won't that take the load off the RAM and GPU and elevate pop in? As far as I know no body has utilised SFS yet in a game, so we can't judge its performance.
Both SFS and PRT+ should lessen pop in by only loading in the visible portions of a texture instead of being forced to wait for the entire texture to load in. You're right that this will free up ram that would otherwise be occupied by unused portions of textures but as things currently are with modern engines, the GPUs are already not drawing the unused portions of the textures so I think any GPU performance gains will be negligible.

As far as I'm aware, the key difference between PRT+ and SFS is that Microsoft integrated some texture filters for when a texture page hasn't loaded in yet. This will act as a blending technique so that the transition from one texture level to next can be smoother, but this is just masking the pop-in, not eliminating it.
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
Just saw the Digital Foundry comparison between PS4 and PS5 and i think its an excellent product on both systems. Both versions are tailor-made for the hardware they are running on, taking into consideration of its capabilities.

This is how you do a cross-gen release.
 

Arioco

Member
funny thing you should say that in a thread about Horizon... I just started the game and the aliasing is brutal...

this seems like it's oversharpened like crazy! the checkerboard rendering in performance mode doesn't help the matter either of course, but still, this shouldn't alias this hard o_O

the checkerboarding in general doesn't look good... it's among the weakest implementations I've seen tbh.

maybe the should have just used native 1440p instead


Dude, you might be interested in this:

 
Dude, you might be interested in this:


anyone else close the game twice, reboot ps5 and it still looks like shimmery, pixelated shit? like, how can so many people be off on this? don't we all have the same eyes? how are people saying this looks AMAZING, etc.?? i loaded the 1st one up and played at 60fps and then this one and it's NIGHT AND DAY. the 1st looks MILES better. super smooth and clean. this is grainy, oversharpened, blur mess.
 

ethomaz

Banned
anyone else close the game twice, reboot ps5 and it still looks like shimmery, pixelated shit? like, how can so many people be off on this? don't we all have the same eyes? how are people saying this looks AMAZING, etc.?? i loaded the 1st one up and played at 60fps and then this one and it's NIGHT AND DAY. the 1st looks MILES better. super smooth and clean. this is grainy, oversharpened, blur mess.
We are playing the definitive looker 30fps mode.
The 60fps mode has these issues you listed... it doesn't look good.
 
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OsirisBlack

Banned
Have to say playing this game on fidelity mode, graphically it’s mind blowing how much detail is in every second of every scene. To the game looks the same on ps4pro comments. Just no. The game removes entire layers of detail from many things even as simple as dust particles and plight particle streams being almost non existent on ps4. Even the moss which is actually fuzzy and has depth on ps5 while it’s just flat green on ps4. Those are the most obvious differences outside of the horrendous pop in on last gen. I’m amazed they did as good a job as they did on ps4 to be honest.
 

01011001

Banned
We are playing the definitive looker 30fps mode.
The 60fps mode has these issues you listed... it doesn't look good.

the 30fps mode also is oversharpened and has aliasing everywhere. it's just less noticeable because of the higher resolution.

bad edge treatment + checkerboard rendering on the other hand is VERY noticeable
 

GymWolf

Member
It's way more impressive on PS4 than it is on PS5 when you consider the hardware.
I mean yeah, they squeezed 120% out of a ps4 while on ps5 probably doesn't fully utilize rdna2 architecture, ssd and cpu for advanced physics and stuff.
Horizon 3 at the end of ps5 lifespan is gonna be what h2 is for ps4.
 

01011001

Banned
restar twice? ok weird, but I'll look at it later when I continue playing

so I restarted the game twice and rebooted the console, still looks like ass.

it's clearly their checkerboarding that is somehow just the worst I've ever seen. as soon as anything moves every single edge just breaks apart and shimmers it also looks super low res and not even close to 1800p

I really don't quite know what they did wrong here but god damn they need to patch this for sure



edit: so I switched my output to 1080p in the hope that maybe the downsampling and then upscaling from the TV itself would maybe smooth over the image a bit... and even at 1080p it actually looks sub native. I have no idea what's going on here but looking at it like that it actually looks like playing a Switch game with bad image quality in terms of the resolution

edit2: I made a comparison shot, but IMO still images don't really show the issue. the issue is really that in motion basically the whole acreen becomes one big aliasing mess

17f1049449871-screens9sjfg.png

17f1048b2a393-screenshpjbe.png
 
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ethomaz

Banned
so I restarted the game twice and rebooted the console, still looks like ass.

it's clearly their checkerboarding that is somehow just the worst I've ever seen. as soon as anything moves every single edge just breaks apart and shimmers it also looks super low res and not even close to 1800p

I really don't quite know what they did wrong here but god damn they need to patch this for sure



edit: so I switched my output to 1080p in the hope that maybe the downsampling and then upscaling from the TV itself would maybe smooth over the image a bit... and even at 1080p it actually looks sub native. I have no idea what's going on here but looking at it like that it actually looks like playing a Switch game with bad image quality in terms of the resolution
I played on 4k mode… gorgeous… best looking game on consoles this gen.

🤷‍♂️
 
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VFXVeteran

Banned
so I restarted the game twice and rebooted the console, still looks like ass.

it's clearly their checkerboarding that is somehow just the worst I've ever seen. as soon as anything moves every single edge just breaks apart and shimmers it also looks super low res and not even close to 1800p

I really don't quite know what they did wrong here but god damn they need to patch this for sure



edit: so I switched my output to 1080p in the hope that maybe the downsampling and then upscaling from the TV itself would maybe smooth over the image a bit... and even at 1080p it actually looks sub native. I have no idea what's going on here but looking at it like that it actually looks like playing a Switch game with bad image quality in terms of the resolution

edit2: I made a comparison shot, but IMO still images don't really show the issue. the issue is really that in motion basically the whole acreen becomes one big aliasing mess

17f1049449871-screens9sjfg.png

17f1048b2a393-screenshpjbe.png
I hate their lighting system in this game. It's probably their procedural colored Sun caculations but it completely drowns out any self-shadowing (AO) that would otherwise make it look really well. All of the wood posts on that fence don't have enough AO. It's like the luminance is way too strong on the environment.
 

assurdum

Banned
I hate their lighting system in this game. It's probably their procedural colored Sun caculations but it completely drowns out any self-shadowing (AO) that would otherwise make it look really well. All of the wood posts on that fence don't have enough AO. It's like the luminance is way too strong on the environment.
VFX criticize a Sony first parties studio
breaking news GIF

Shocked GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
 
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so I restarted the game twice and rebooted the console, still looks like ass.

it's clearly their checkerboarding that is somehow just the worst I've ever seen. as soon as anything moves every single edge just breaks apart and shimmers it also looks super low res and not even close to 1800p

I really don't quite know what they did wrong here but god damn they need to patch this for sure



edit: so I switched my output to 1080p in the hope that maybe the downsampling and then upscaling from the TV itself would maybe smooth over the image a bit... and even at 1080p it actually looks sub native. I have no idea what's going on here but looking at it like that it actually looks like playing a Switch game with bad image quality in terms of the resolution

edit2: I made a comparison shot, but IMO still images don't really show the issue. the issue is really that in motion basically the whole acreen becomes one big aliasing mess

17f1049449871-screens9sjfg.png

17f1048b2a393-screenshpjbe.png
Why not stop playing and selling it. Saves us the bullshit u been spitting constantly. Thank you😘
 

VFXVeteran

Banned
Why not stop playing and selling it. Saves us the bullshit u been spitting constantly. Thank you😘
So let me get this straight. When a Sony game comes out noone on the boards can express their dislikes about the game because it should be a perfect game? Basically, "if you don't have anything to say that puts this game on a pedestal then you need to sell the game and shut up about it". Should this be the theme for every game of every platform or just Sony games?
 
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01011001

Banned
Why not stop playing and selling it. Saves us the bullshit u been spitting constantly. Thank you😘

I am not a graphics whore, I can play games that look like shit if I otherwise like them

I am simply voicing my disbelief in how absolutely awful their Antialiasing is in this game... it is astonishingly bad, it truly reminds of playing a blurry Switch game at times, or it reminds me also of playing Apex Legends on a base PS4, that had a similar amount of really bad edge shimmering.

and I am also kinda surprised that this is not really brought up to a degree I would have expected by DF and other reviewers because it really is the worst image quality of any game on PS5 without question.

playing Spider-Man in RT Performance mode, which runs close to 1080p at nearly all times, looks sharper and less aliased, even while swinging through central park with foliage everywhere.

so I'm sorry I am criticising the graphics of a game made by your favourite company in a thread about game graphics, I hope the emotional trauma isn't too bad... and I'm also sorry for you that you think graphics are such a big part of a game that I should sell the game because I am voicing an opinion on them being extremely underwhelming
 
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I am not a graphics whore, I can play games that look like shit if I otherwise like them

I am simply voicing my disbelief in how absolutely awful their Antialiasing is in this game... it is astonishingly bad, it truly reminds of playing a blurry Switch game at times, or it reminds me also of playing Apex Legends on a base PS4, that had a similar amount of really bad edge shimmering.

and I am also kinda surprised that this is not really brought up to a degree I would have expected by DF and other reviewers because it really is the worst image quality of any game on PS5 without question.

playing Spider-Man in RT Performance mode, which runs close to 1080p at nearly all times, looks sharper and less aliased, even while swinging through central park with foliage everywhere.

so I'm sorry I am criticising the graphics of a game made by your favourite company in a thread about game graphics, I hope the emotional trauma isn't too bad... and I'm also sorry for you that you think graphics are such a big part of a game that I should sell the game because I am voicing an opinion on them being extremely underwhelming
Thing is, it's really not. And that's why your comments are annoying. I've never seen so many bullshit complains about a game like this. It looks like certain people just want to hate on the game. Nothing personal, my man. There is a distinctive lack of polish here, I give u that but saying the game looks bad is just plain untrue.
 
So let me get this straight. When a Sony game comes out noone on the boards can express their dislikes about the game because it should be a perfect game? Basically, "if you don't have anything to say that puts this game on a pedestal then you need to sell the game and shut up about it". Should this be the theme for every game of every platform or just Sony games?
Read my follow up comment.
 

Vick

Gold Member
Known Sony hater, laughing at posts claming this is the best looking console game:
I hate their lighting system in this game. It's probably their procedural colored Sun caculations but it completely drowns out any self-shadowing (AO) that would otherwise make it look really well. All of the wood posts on that fence don't have enough AO. It's like the luminance is way too strong on the environment.

Objective, impartial PC gamer:
I have pretty much a top of the line PC one can buy, only my GPU at a 10GB RTX 3080 is the weakest part, including a 4K 1ms 144MHz monitor, and the visuals in this game on my PS5 and old 4K TV at times are beyond anything I've seen. If anyone was wondering if this game truly ushers in the current gen guess no longer. It's remarkable what they pulled off with this hardware at times. I keep stopping just to look at scenery. And again, this is as a graphics whore with a PC and monitor combo that would set you back $4k
I am about 10 hours in, and in my opinion this is easily the best looking game ever made. Nothing else even comes close. If this is what a Sony first studio can do this early into the generation, I cannot wait to see what the likes of Naughty Dog pumps out in the coming years.

I mean it's insane how good this game looks sometimes.
 

VFXVeteran

Banned
Known Sony hater, laughing at posts claming this is the best looking console game:


Objective, impartial PC gamer:
The point is these games are following the same path as other games from years ago. Just having "more" of something isn't enough to make a game trump all others. I don't really feel like getting into this yet again for a new Sony release. Unfortunately, it'll come up again when GoW2 is the next "best" thing.
 
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Lysandros

Member
It really is. It has been impressive since day one with games like Infamous Second Son, Driveclub or Killzone and never slowed down. 8 years later and it's still going strong.

I'm yet to be impressed with PS5.
This is what happens when one designs a console with ample bandwidth and fill rate in ratio to its compute power and further customize it with enhanced GPGPU capabilities.
 
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Slightly bummed about the graphics thus far - the detail is great I just don’t really pick up on it too much I think due to my tv and how far I sit from it, and possibly my astigmatism - I’m playing in 30fps and I’m in the first part - just something seems slightly off with it that I can’t put my finger on in cutscenes compared to gameplay, I’m also super sensitive to pop in which may cause the issue
 

TonyK

Member
I am not a graphics whore, I can play games that look like shit if I otherwise like them

I am simply voicing my disbelief in how absolutely awful their Antialiasing is in this game... it is astonishingly bad, it truly reminds of playing a blurry Switch game at times, or it reminds me also of playing Apex Legends on a base PS4, that had a similar amount of really bad edge shimmering.

and I am also kinda surprised that this is not really brought up to a degree I would have expected by DF and other reviewers because it really is the worst image quality of any game on PS5 without question.

playing Spider-Man in RT Performance mode, which runs close to 1080p at nearly all times, looks sharper and less aliased, even while swinging through central park with foliage everywhere.

so I'm sorry I am criticising the graphics of a game made by your favourite company in a thread about game graphics, I hope the emotional trauma isn't too bad... and I'm also sorry for you that you think graphics are such a big part of a game that I should sell the game because I am voicing an opinion on them being extremely underwhelming
Agree. I and two close friends are playing the game, and we are astonished about how incredibly bad the IQ looks at 60fps. It looks like 720p upscaled or something, even if we know is above 1080, but something weird happens in the image. For me and one friend there is no problem because we play in fidelity mode, but the other friend doesn't want to play at 30fps, so now he can't play the game, because at 60fps is ugly, and at 30fps is too blurry in movement for him. He hopes Guerrilla will do something, an update that removes the sharpening filter or something and would make the image cleaner.

But one thing is true, in fidelity mode is astonishing.
 
Known Sony hater, laughing at posts claming this is the best looking console game:


Objective, impartial PC gamer:
He is neither objective nor impartial, he just agrees with you.

From an objective POV, games on PC are in a league of their own. An example: Horizon FW runs at 4K30 on the PS5 while a game like Cyberpunk (with ultra RT settings, not even psycho) manages around 1080p30 on a RX 6800XT: a PS5 would struggle to get 720p30. Horizon is less computationally expensive and that’s a fact. You can argue about art style and the weaknesses and strengths different titles entail but you cannot expect a PS5 and a high end PC to be on a level field: the PC is more powerful and will deliver “better” (in a number crunching way) results. Stating the obvious is not being a fanboy, is being rational.

Even now the best version of Horizon FW is probably running on Guerrilla’s PCs (they could even be experimenting with RT for a future release).

Regarding considering HFW the best looking game ever released, I wouldn’t agree at all with that opinion.
I think the game seems to rely on artistic excellence rather than pure tech; the engine seems to be dated and lack “next gen” features. The graphics seem to look like a combination of “last gen” bones plus high quality assets on top (incredible meshes and textures): the lighting seems to be flat (even when artists included several possible scenarios for probes and cubemaps, it still looks dated compared to RT solutions), volumetrics clouds appear to be low res, distant LOD seem to be nonexistent and hidden behind tons of ever-present fog (comparing it to something like “the valley of the ancient”), landscape tessellation seems to be way better now compared to the first one and it mimics what could be seen in games such as “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” or “Star Wars: Battlefront” but is not ground breaking by any means, the game appears to includes texture (fake) water caustics instead of using RT to generate the effect (like Sword and Fairy 7 does), Aloy’s hair movement seem to consist of a few strands instead of being based on something like hairworks, etc.

If you consider it the best looking game ever that’s great but you cannot pretend to deride the opinion of people who is leaning toward technical aspects of graphics.
 

VFXVeteran

Banned
He is neither objective nor impartial, he just agrees with you.

From an objective POV, games on PC are in a league of their own. An example: Horizon FW runs at 4K30 on the PS5 while a game like Cyberpunk (with ultra RT settings, not even psycho) manages around 1080p30 on a RX 6800XT: a PS5 would struggle to get 720p30. Horizon is less computationally expensive and that’s a fact. You can argue about art style and the weaknesses and strengths different titles entail but you cannot expect a PS5 and a high end PC to be on a level field: the PC is more powerful and will deliver “better” (in a number crunching way) results. Stating the obvious is not being a fanboy, is being rational....

Even now the best version of Horizon FW is probably running on Guerrilla’s PCs (they could even be experimenting with RT for a future release).
Agreed.

Regarding considering HFW the best looking game ever released, I wouldn’t agree at all with that opinion.
I think the game seems to rely on artistic excellence rather than pure tech; the engine seems to be dated and lack “next gen” features. The graphics seem to look like a combination of “last gen” bones plus high quality assets on top (incredible meshes and textures): the lighting seems to be flat (even when artists included several possible scenarios for probes and cubemaps, it still looks dated compared to RT solutions), volumetrics clouds appear to be low res, distant LOD seem to be nonexistent and hidden behind tons of ever-present fog (comparing it to something like “the valley of the ancient”), landscape tessellation seems to be way better now compared to the first one and it mimics what could be seen in games such as “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” or “Star Wars: Battlefront” but is not ground breaking by any means, the game appears to includes texture (fake) water caustics instead of using RT to generate the effect (like Sword and Fairy 7 does), Aloy’s hair movement seem to consist of a few strands instead of being based on something like hairworks, etc.

If you consider it the best looking game ever that’s great but you cannot pretend to deride the opinion of people who is leaning toward technical aspects of graphics.
Thanks a lot for sharing this. I'm happy to see people of rational mind agreeing with my rational thought process. It's only a certain type of people that have issues with my comments based on reality.
 
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I hate their lighting system in this game. It's probably their procedural colored Sun caculations but it completely drowns out any self-shadowing (AO) that would otherwise make it look really well. All of the wood posts on that fence don't have enough AO. It's like the luminance is way too strong on the environment.
I knew you would notice this right away. This game shows why RT is needed for games to really be at that next level. Everything has this overnrightened glow to it. It looks super unrealistic if not stunning in a still shot.

The luminance issue is especially pronounced in the first area. It's better once you get to the FW but it's still there.
 

VFXVeteran

Banned
I knew you would notice this right away. This game shows why RT is needed for games to really be at that next level. Everything has this overnrightened glow to it. It looks super unrealistic if not stunning in a still shot.

The luminance issue is especially pronounced in the first area. It's better once you get to the FW but it's still there.
Yes sir. My eyes don't miss these things.:messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

Kilau

Gold Member
Is the difference between PS5 performance mode and quality just the FPS and resolution or are there other cutbacks?
 
I hate their lighting system in this game. It's probably their procedural colored Sun caculations but it completely drowns out any self-shadowing (AO) that would otherwise make it look really well. All of the wood posts on that fence don't have enough AO. It's like the luminance is way too strong on the environment.

The lighting really falls apart in darker environments as things glow so unnaturally which can stand out like a sore thumb.

LOuCNom.jpg

CpPW1Ky.jpg

n8w2AY1.jpg


I've also noticed parts where the lighting changes based on camera direction. I guess this is to fake a change in the time of day in the more linear set piece parts of the game as there is no real time lighting engine? It's not a problem but it definitely shows the last gen roots of the engine (I get that it has to work on PS4 too).




I definitely agree with the post about this game relying on artistic excellence rather than pure tech. Some of the assets are simply outrageous quality for a game, like honestly photo real, but it feels a little like when people put photo real textures in Skyrim but it doesn't magically make it feel like a 2022 game.

I can see why people are impressed by the graphics but elements feel very videogamey. I don't have the tech know-how to explain why the lighting looks completely wrong it's just obvious that it does and I guess the closer to photo real the assets become the more stuff like this sticks out. I guess the game is a victim of its own success in a way.

You wouldn't catch me complaining about poor lighting in a Mario game as it looks like a game but this game has squint and it looks real quality textures in places so the uncanny valley stuff really stands out.
 

Vick

Gold Member
He is neither objective nor impartial, he just agrees with you.
Me? Where did you read comments of mine about Forbidden West graphics?
I just posted the contrast between a very know type of poster, which you might not be familiar with, and a not emotionally invested one like BadBurger BadBurger .. by the way you post, little doubts are left about which category you personally belong to.

From an objective POV, games on PC are in a league of their own.
Regarding considering HFW the best looking game ever released, I wouldn’t agree at all with that opinion.
I think the game seems to rely on artistic excellence rather than pure tech; the engine seems to be dated and lack “next gen” features. The graphics seem to look like a combination of “last gen” bones plus high quality assets on top (incredible meshes and textures): the lighting seems to be flat (even when artists included several possible scenarios for probes and cubemaps, it still looks dated compared to RT solutions), volumetrics clouds appear to be low res, distant LOD seem to be nonexistent and hidden behind tons of ever-present fog (comparing it to something like “the valley of the ancient”), landscape tessellation seems to be way better now compared to the first one and it mimics what could be seen in games such as “Ghost Recon: Wildlands” or “Star Wars: Battlefront” but is not ground breaking by any means, the game appears to includes texture (fake) water caustics instead of using RT to generate the effect (like Sword and Fairy 7 does), Aloy’s hair movement seem to consist of a few strands instead of being based on something like hairworks, etc.

If you consider it the best looking game ever that’s great but you cannot pretend to deride the opinion of people who is leaning toward technical aspects of graphics.
I don't. Even if, exiting from the tech behind it, i don't think it would be laughing matter anyway (unlike your claim of cloud rendering being low res, for instance).

horizonforbiddenwest_t5kwg.png

horizonforbiddenwest_iqjrw.png

horizonforbiddenwest_ynj58.png

horizonforbiddenwest_xfjhb.png

horizonforbiddenwest_5wjnh.png


The prominent water rendering is very striking in appearance and probably overall the most impressive i've seen in a game, distand LOD same, which you define as being "nonexistent" immediately exposing you as someone who not only never played the game, but also never bothered to watch the DF analysis which dedicated a whole segment to the accuracy and dedication that was put into distant rendering. Same goes for vegetation density and complexity and interaction with..




And the kind of attention to detail and care that went into every character model or fauna, for that matter..

FLveWLAXwAQ5vlM

FLveVoQWUAAsH66

FLuGKPnXEAE1kC6

horizonforbiddenwest_guktg.png

FLuGKs8XwAIqg2X

FLuGLHhXIAEXNGO

FLuLLlJXMAMWwNm


But still, i don't. This is still cross-gen game at its core, and i certainly agree about lighting being more impressive from an artistic point of view and in need of RT in interiors.

From "an objective POV", as you say, the best looking "game" ever is very obviously The Matrix Awakens.

fCP9vIg.gif


The-Matrix-Awakens-An-Unreal-Engine-5-Experience-1.gif


b2a007de57984abc924610b04dda0e98


u1Qncli.gif


The-Matrix-Awakens_-An-Unreal-Engine-5-Experience_20211210012114.png

thematrixawakens_anunz3k0n.jpg

1639639383-the-matrix-awakens-an-unreal-engine-5-experience-20211214112317.jpg

The_Matrix_Awakens__An_Unreal_Engine_5_Experience_2021-12-10_15-44-41.jpg

thematrixawakens_anunptk5w.jpg


rQWb1Ow.gif

EG6Cscb.gif
 
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assurdum

Banned
So let me get this straight. When a Sony game comes out noone on the boards can express their dislikes about the game because it should be a perfect game? Basically, "if you don't have anything to say that puts this game on a pedestal then you need to sell the game and shut up about it". Should this be the theme for every game of every platform or just Sony games?
Let me be straight.
You express regularly religiously your dislike for Sony first parties studios graphic job. It's like you see flaws just in their games. Nothing against it but I still can't forget your obstinacy to downplay the raytracing method in insomniac games regardless (which was phenomenal especially considered is not Nvidia tied), an horrible shit show and it wasn't even the first; so it's hard to take you seriously when you talk about sony games. Seems you have something personal against them honestly.
 
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assurdum

Banned
Me? Where did you read comments of mine about Forbidden West graphics?
I just posted the contrast between a very know type of poster, which you might not be familiar with, and a not emotionally invested one like BadBurger BadBurger .. by the way you post, little doubts are left about which category you personally belong to.


I don't. Even if, exiting from the tech behind it, i don't think it would be laughing matter anyway, unlike your claim of cloud rendering being low res.

horizonforbiddenwest_t5kwg.png

horizonforbiddenwest_iqjrw.png

horizonforbiddenwest_ynj58.png

horizonforbiddenwest_xfjhb.png

horizonforbiddenwest_5wjnh.png


The prominent water rendering is very striking in appearance and probably overall the most impressive i've seen in a game, distand LOD same, which you define as being "nonexistent" immediately exposing you as someone who not only never played the game, but also never bothered to watch the DF analysis which dedicated a whole segment to the accuracy and dedication that was put into distant rendering. Same goes for vegetation density and complexity and interaction with.. and the kind of attention to detail and care that went into every character model or fauna, for that matter..

FLveWLAXwAQ5vlM

FLveVoQWUAAsH66

FLuGKPnXEAE1kC6

horizonforbiddenwest_guktg.png

FLuGKs8XwAIqg2X

FLuGLHhXIAEXNGO

FLuLLlJXMAMWwNm


But still, i don't. This is still cross-gen game at its core, and i certainly agree about lighting being more impressive from an artistic point of view and in need of RT in interiors.

When it comes to me, from "an objective POV", as you say, the best looking "game" ever is very obviously The Matrix Awakens.

fCP9vIg.gif


The-Matrix-Awakens-An-Unreal-Engine-5-Experience-1.gif


b2a007de57984abc924610b04dda0e98


u1Qncli.gif


The-Matrix-Awakens_-An-Unreal-Engine-5-Experience_20211210012114.png

thematrixawakens_anunz3k0n.jpg

1639639383-the-matrix-awakens-an-unreal-engine-5-experience-20211214112317.jpg

The_Matrix_Awakens__An_Unreal_Engine_5_Experience_2021-12-10_15-44-41.jpg

thematrixawakens_anunptk5w.jpg


rQWb1Ow.gif

EG6Cscb.gif
The thing is all the console games have such prebaked lighting issue. Even Dying Light 2. UE5 and Metro Exodus probably are the only exception.
 

VFXVeteran

Banned
The lighting really falls apart in darker environments as things glow so unnaturally which can stand out like a sore thumb.

LOuCNom.jpg

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I've also noticed parts where the lighting changes based on camera direction. I guess this is to fake a change in the time of day in the more linear set piece parts of the game as there is no real time lighting engine? It's not a problem but it definitely shows the last gen roots of the engine (I get that it has to work on PS4 too).




I definitely agree with the post about this game relying on artistic excellence rather than pure tech. Some of the assets are simply outrageous quality for a game, like honestly photo real, but it feels a little like when people put photo real textures in Skyrim but it doesn't magically make it feel like a 2022 game.

I can see why people are impressed by the graphics but elements feel very videogamey. I don't have the tech know-how to explain why the lighting looks completely wrong it's just obvious that it does and I guess the closer to photo real the assets become the more stuff like this sticks out. I guess the game is a victim of its own success in a way.

You wouldn't catch me complaining about poor lighting in a Mario game as it looks like a game but this game has squint and it looks real quality textures in places so the uncanny valley stuff really stands out.

Good post.

The last gen roots come from their use of their old lighting engine which relies heavily on GI light probes and fake light sources that don't cast shadows. The most obvious way to remedy that would be to use RT ambient occlusion. It won't be enough to use 2D screenspace ambient occlusion as that would look weird in motion like SS reflections look. They would need to use computations in world space (3D) and this would be costly. I hate every GI light probe method because it simply creates an unnormalized lighting equation and that's what sticks out like a sore thumb.

There are other games that use AO extensively with good results like FS2020 while still keeping the GI light probe lighting system.

I expect for GG to at least switch over to a more photoreal lighting system with their next iteration. I just don't know if it will come out before the PS6 arrives.
 

VFXVeteran

Banned
Let me be straight.
You express regularly religiously your dislike for Sony first parties studios graphic job. It's like you see flaws just in their games. Nothing against it but I still can't forget your obstinacy to downplay the raytracing method in insomniac games regardless (which was phenomenal especially considered is not Nvidia tied), an horrible shit show and it wasn't even the first; so it's hard to take you seriously when you talk about sony games. Seems you have something personal against them honestly.
You misunderstand me completely. I dislike Sony zealots that think every game is the best technology ever made and never give credit to other studios that do equal if not better "actual" technology. There are many gamers on these forums that agree with my dislike so I'm not on an island by myself. What you see happening with me is trying to provide facts as to why these said games AREN'T gods greatest gift to man in the hope that people will start to credit the game itself and not the platform by which it's played on. The Xbox gamers sometimes do the same thing, but I've never seen them believe that their games are better than any other platform including the PC. I suspect that the reason is that they know their version isn't the best version out there. Gradually over time, this kind of thinking will propagate to the strong Sony supporters and we'll finally have equilibrium. That is, people will finally talk about games giving positive feedback to every AAA company out there and not just a small segment of companies that only put out Sony products.
 

mortal

Gold Member
Not sure if this was already posted. Nick930's direct compariosns goes into a bit more depth than most.

 

Shmunter

Member
You misunderstand me completely. I dislike Sony zealots that think every game is the best technology ever made and never give credit to other studios that do equal if not better "actual" technology. There are many gamers on these forums that agree with my dislike so I'm not on an island by myself. What you see happening with me is trying to provide facts as to why these said games AREN'T gods greatest gift to man in the hope that people will start to credit the game itself and not the platform by which it's played on. The Xbox gamers sometimes do the same thing, but I've never seen them believe that their games are better than any other platform including the PC. I suspect that the reason is that they know their version isn't the best version out there. Gradually over time, this kind of thinking will propagate to the strong Sony supporters and we'll finally have equilibrium. That is, people will finally talk about games giving positive feedback to every AAA company out there and not just a small segment of companies that only put out Sony products.
Good lord, the cringe is so bad that it’s just too good. I hope you never get banned, how will I ever go to sleep without a crazed giggle emanating from god knows where from all this.
 
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