• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

Next gen graphics are underwhelming

The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,985
I think game previews have looked so good for so long that there's a diminishing returns when a new game is shown off. Like, the reveal for Horizon Zero Dawn looked just as good to me as the reveal for Horizon 2. They both just looked really good. I don't think you'll really be able to appreciate the graphical quality until it's ingame -- graphics, performance, etc, and trailers/marketing screenshots always just look really good.
 
offshore

offshore

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,052
UK
Games at the start of a new generation almost always look similar to the previous; it takes at least 18-24 months before that starts to change.

It'll be no different here. Some of the games we'll see in 2-3 years' time will probably be astonishing.
 
dmshaposv

dmshaposv

Member
Oct 27, 2017
957
Era: next-gen graphics are underwhelming!!! I need tech demo graphics pls

Also Era: Screw graphics! Just give me 4K 60 FPS. I dont want 30 FPS anymore!!!

Somethings gotta give.
 
Astronut325

Astronut325

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,948
Los Angeles, CA
Uh... OP... this is Driveclub while playing:
DCBeta-2-1024x576.jpg


This is GT7 while playing:
gran-turismo-7-ps5-screenshots-4k-3.jpg
 
Adamska

Adamska

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,042
Dr. Doom said:
Driceclub looks like a blurry mess compared to GT7. While it looks like a souped up version of GT Sport, it's probably the best looking racer so far.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It is most definitely not a souped up GTS. The geometry on the cars shown so far, and the quality of the lightning and reflections are on a whole new level.
 
Equanimity

Equanimity

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,991
London
image_ratchet_clank_rift_apart-42171-4503_0003.jpg


image_marvel_s_spider_man_miles_morales-42173-4526_0001.jpg


What if these two images were captured running in real-time? Because if you told me these were CG renders I'd believe you.

Both native 4K with ray traced features. This is an incredible jump from current console hardware.
 
Bloodforge

Bloodforge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
943
Earth
Kena and R&C could easily be mistaken as cgi movies, they look really good. Horizon 2 looks incredible as well, lots of detail there.
 
WordsintheWater

WordsintheWater

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,503
Do you all look at all the extra density and things going on in the environment? The games look better, move better, and are more dense then ever from what those trailers showed. Look at Horizon 2, Ratchet and Clank, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, if you can't see a clear difference than I am not sure what you are looking at.
 
HouseDragon

HouseDragon

Member
Dec 4, 2017
545
I agree OP, I think this is the generation that the visual increments have felt the smallest, so far. Could it be because of the "Pro" version of consoles we had this gen that brought with it HDR and higher than Full HD resolutions? Maybe. But like you said, some of the games shown during stream could've passed for PS4 titles with a patch.

I also have to agree with most of the posters here, there are some games that DID look the part. Particularly, Ratchet and Clank looked unbelievable to me! Horizon: Forbidden West was pretty neat too (at first glance, it didn't look a generation better, but rewatching it on 4K made me a believer).
 
Guru Meditation

Guru Meditation

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,154
The leap this gen is massive for me considering I still have an og xbone and 1080p tv. I think the pro and one x may be part of why some are underwhelmed. And there is some truth to diminishing returns.

Next gen visuals look great to me though and is a huge improvement over the base consoles.
 
Lionheart

Lionheart

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,840
Diminishing returns is still 20 years away.

First gen console games have never looked better than what was shown at Sonys conference. We are getting jaw dropping stuff right out of the gate.

A lot of these perceived issues aren't a result of the hardware but budgets and time. Its not cheap to create these assets. But the SSD improvements alone for developers are exciting as hell.

I think every gen has been at least equal in their jump, its very consistent. PS1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 all can be argued which is actually a bigger jump, its not like we got a gen that was like dreamcast to PS2 only. PS5 is no exception, come on look at Horizon 2, that is absolutely an equal jump to last gen. R&C with the Rifts? Cannot be done last gen.

The quality of indie stuff is also respectable, I'm very happy with their graphical output. I think as the gen goes on devs might even lower the rez to 4kcb and you'll get even more stunning results.

Assuming these boxes aren't $600 USD be happy with the games you are about to witness, its going to be wild. Every gen is exciting to me.

Best of all we've only seen a handful of next gen games.
 

bing

Banned
Apr 27, 2020
1,376
nowhere, canada
Personally, I thought the Demon's Souls Remake was the only thing that looked truly next-gen. Everything else looked like it was possible on PS4. Even the Ratchet and Clank game. Everything outside of the opening railroad sequence in that game (which was extremely impressive) looked possible this gen. I can't say for sure till the games actually come out, though.
 
Hanbei

Hanbei

Member
Nov 11, 2017
4,089
We have literally seen nothing of what next gen has to offer. Ain't that a bit early to call graphics "underwhelming"?
 
IMCaprica

IMCaprica

Member
Aug 1, 2019
9,419
Interesting that you bring up Killzone: Shadow Fall, because I think you're right but I think that game is the other extreme. Killzone looked amazing at launch, still looks good now, and I thoroughly disliked every second playing it. I will gladly take a visually unimpressive launch game that grabs me with its story and/or gameplay over a gorgeous game that frustrates me at every turn. Killzone's reputation as a visual powerhouse almost feels unearned because of how mediocre the entire game is.

Having said that, I disagree completely that Driveclub looks better than GT7. I know you said you watched all the trailers in 4K. I would just ask that you also look at Driveclub again just to be sure.
 
degauss

degauss

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,631
Agree somewhat.

Ratchet, horizon, project athea, Kena impressed me. I think that was about it.

I'm a big Gran Turismo fan. GT did not impress too much, it just looked fine. Demon souls (I'll call it that because they should have taken this opportunity to fix the name to correct English) looked good but it was only the gameplay screenshots released that made me realise this. Resident Evil looked like Res 7 on ultra settings. Spider-Man showed barely anything. Sack-boy looked shit.

I would have loved to see Cyberpunk, FIFA, COD Warzone, Rocket League. Yes they aren't exclusives, but if rocket league can now run at 4k60 or 4k120, that would be mind melting news. If Cyberpunk is 4k60 on PS5 that would have made waves.

But, ultimately, it's 5-10x more powerful than what I have, so I'm getting it day 1. I have faith in the ecosystem and power, even if I would have edited the conference differently.
 
iceblade

iceblade

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,213
nogoodnamesleft said:
Diminishing returns

They look great, but each gen will yield smaller and smaller leaps because the photo realism chase is still far away but requires a fuckton of computing power
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This. It's about what I expected in terms of graphics, ie nothing too far past what's available, considering that the games are still in the early period for PS5 vs the very mature period for PS4 (when devs know how to get as much as possible out of it), and also considering the diminishing returns.

What really showcased next gen for me was Spider Man and Ratchet and Clank - the speed of the traversal in Spider Man and (especially) how quickly the environments were changing in Ratchet and Clank wouldn't be possible on PS4, unless they somehow came stock with SSDs which isn't going to happen.
 
Lys Skygge

Lys Skygge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,745
Arizona
Guru Meditation said:
The leap this gen is massive for me considering I still have an og xbone and 1080p tv. I think the pro and one x may be part of why some are underwhelmed. And there is some truth to diminishing returns.

Next gen visuals look great to me though and is a huge improvement over the base consoles.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Honestly, other than higher resolution and maybe higher FPS, the Pro/1X don't look that much better than the PS4/XB1, primarily because the games are still built to run on the PS4/XB1. This new generation should look significantly better than games running on the Pro/1X (which I personally think was proven on the 12th).
 
FIREKNIGHT2029

FIREKNIGHT2029

Member
Oct 31, 2017
3,287
blastprocessor said:
Well Star Citizens has a $300m budget so if it's not better then Horizon by the time it's released something went badly wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
SC doesn't even look better than HZD2 in gameplay so I dunno where people are getting that from.

These are my personal screenshots from playing SC. Pardon the fact these are 1440p images because I was trying to get higher frames (alpha 3.9.1 is very unoptimized right now). It doesn't look as good as HZD in my opinion. I think it looks absolutely stunning while I'm playing it but I still think HZD2 and R&C look better. Maybe SC will end up looking better when it's done especially SQ42 but it's not there yet in the current Alpha...

hohCLav.jpg

HZhrNZy.jpg


d1cPtLs.jpg

KVOpwLq.jpg

iU9KMfl.jpg

aJeo8tS.jpg

WJfHEmf.jpg
 

____

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,734
Miami, FL
Sucks to be you (anyone with unreasonable expectations, not you personally) then. I was personally blown away.
 
jerf

jerf

Member
Nov 1, 2017
6,230
Everything was crisp AF

This is what always happens, next gen looks like what you think older games looked like through your rose tinted glasses.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,131
we have the same conversation every time since gen 6. next gen gameplay reveals (or supposed real gameplay) will only get less and less and impressive
 
Jombie

Jombie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,392
It always takes a few years for devs to get a firm grasp on the hardware. But yeah, going forward, you're going to see improvements to lighting, IQ and performance.
 
PeakPointMatrix

PeakPointMatrix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,047
AegonSnake said:
they are only underwhelming because sony did a poor job of showcasing what next gen can do. there were almost zero CPU related enhancements shown and only one instance of ssd's main enhancement shown. they needed to show gameplay. they needed to show destructon. they needed to show physics. they needed to show new world simulations made possible by the cpu. they needed to show fast traversal (not fast travel) of worlds. have aloy fly around the map. show new spiderman NPC behavior. show a more detailed look at the amazing eco system in horizon. show some actual gameplay of why demon souls is a full remake and not just a skin upgrade like SOTC. show weather and damage physics in GT7. its really not that hard.

they did a poor job showcasing the future, but the tech is there. the devs HAVE delivered. sony's marketing let them down.

30EdATv.gif

yPWXmMK.gif

jO25hC.gif
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
tHis cOulD rUn oN BaSe Ps4 🥴
 

Deleted member 22750

Oct 28, 2017
13,267
Everyone who is let down currently will definitely be happy.

When developers drop this generation and focus on ps5 XSX and a year or two has passed everyone will laugh they were underwhelmed
 
Fancy Clown

Fancy Clown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,407
I'm way more impressed by these than I was with the PS3 to 4 launch stuff. I can't even imagine what the end of the gen games are gonna look like.
 
suxgotav

suxgotav

Member
Jul 23, 2019
7
Sanka said:
Wasn't flashed either. First time this hasn't happened for a nextgen reveal. The games looked better yes, but nothing that was the game changer everyone was talking about.

Ratchet and Clank did show what these new SSDs are capable of. But it otherwise looked and played almost the same.
My biggest takeaway is how good looking well funded indie games are going to look like. Kena and Little Devil inside looked mindblowingly good considering their budget.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I agree. Ratchet and Clank PS4 surprised me FAR MORE than this one on PS5. The leap from PS3 to PS4 was better.
 

Deleted member 2254

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,467
Most of the games we saw were AAs, indies or cross-gen titles. We yet have to see the studios who tend to do the best graphics (Rockstar, Naughty Dog, DICE, 343, etc.) show actual gameplay from anything next-gen. No need to worry.
 
Musubi

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
23,611
Its absurd to judge visual fidelity over a shitty compressed stream.
 
Vitamin_B_Complex

Vitamin_B_Complex

Member
Jan 21, 2019
2,902
TheGreatJordan said:
Ratchet and Clank made my jaws drop. And the Demon Souls screenshots are outstanding
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
And the detail in Horizon is insane.

Sorry but I can't relate OP. When I saw the first screenshot of Demon's Souls (or Aloy's ear), my eyes exploded.

image_demon_s_souls-42167-4516_0001.jpg


I had high expectations and this screenshot alone captures all of it. The geometry, the lighting, the detail, just stunning.

FIREKNIGHT2029 said:
I beg to differ. These games on a 4K display shit on any of those tech demos running at 1080p. The level of detail on display is ridiculous.

49996551392_2065591823_4k.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I just cannot believe this. I refuse to believe this until I see the exact same thing in action. This looks like a rendered picture and not a video game screenshot.
 
Yiazmat

Yiazmat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
349
Adamska said:
It is most definitely not a souped up GTS. The geometry on the cars shown so far, and the quality of the lightning and reflections are on a whole new level.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nope, judging by the gameplay section, the cars models are the exact same. (and the hands of the player model too)

GT Sport vs GT7:

gMUEJIN.gif
 
JudgmentJay

JudgmentJay

Member
Nov 14, 2017
5,216
Texas
Not surprising that some people are underwhelmed. We had that thread a while back where people were literally expecting next-gen games to look like Avatar. I hope those people feel silly. Games looked great to me and were in line with my expectations.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.