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https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-nba-2k21-the-next-gen-difference
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Digital Foundry | NBA 2K21 - A Proper Generational Leap? Plus PS5/ Series X/ Series S Analysis
- Thread starter Uzupedro
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NBA 2K21 brings a huge leap in realism for next-gen consoles
It's been a long time since we've covered sports titles at Digital Foundry, but with the arrival of NBA 2K21 on the new…
www.eurogamer.net
Is it even the same game compared to the last-gen version? How would the Pro run the next-gen version? Not at 4K...
You are correct, they are not running the same versions. The NEXT GEN Version is totally different than the PS4 and Xbox One versions.
TL;DW
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TL;DW
- Sport games usually are harder to do than most genres, the recreation of a real life sport being the main ''problem'', but NBA 2K21 does it well with the generational leap
- Player models are good with great skin shader and facial expressions, it's still not perfect but solid enough. The cloth work is also well done
- Most significant change between last and current gen version are the materials, shading and lighting, a noticeable improvement with side by side comparisons.
- Story mode is slightly worse graphics wise.
- Sweat is great.
- Courts uses new materials, more realistic ; Crowds are impressive, they even have individual fingers!
- Use of high quality planar reflections
- Next-gen version with several QoL improvements and with a completely unique U.I
- Massive loading time improvements, from PS4 PRO's 28 seconds to INSTANT on the PS5.
- XSX and PS5 are virtually identical. Native 4K.
- PS4 PRO(and probably the same for XONEX) also runs ate Native 4K, but with the obvious current-gen graphical settings.
- XSS is native 1080P with the same graphical setting as XSX/PS5, but with some scenes missing Depth of Field, U.I is also 1080P.
- All Consoles have a mixed frame-rate, with gameplay at 60 and replays at 30.
- Next-gen versions have a per-object motion blur.
- XSX(on default camera) has an almost perfect 60FPS, with single frames dropping in an unussual way.
- PS5 (on default camera) has a perfect 60FPS .
- XSS (on default camera) also has the perfect 60FPS.
- XSX has drops when using the panoramic camera, mainly when is showing most of the court, with the crowd and players.
- Those drops don't happen on the PS5 version.
- Those drops happens on the XSS version, but to a lesser extent.
- Great results overall.
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I am enjoying 2k21 on XsX but there is still an overall issue that VC hasn't fixed in all these years. When defending, your momentum carries you as a defender, but it will not carry the offensive player in the same way. On offense, there's a sense of weight to your player when trying to round a defender but again, it doesn't carry over to the defender. You get used to it, but it still sucks.
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NBA's Next-gen version is out since launch, Fifa released yesterday, seeing the (surprisingly) improvements on Fifa I would be surprised if they don't cover it too.
As John said in the video, you'll barely notice them unless you go looking. I've never paid a dine to 2k for MTX. This is not like Madden, where it's a copy and paste. My NBA (Franchise mode) is excellent, and that's pretty much where I spend most of my time.
Yep, 2K has the best franchise mode by far in the sports area.
No need to since i'd imagine the 2K cam is one of the least demanding views of the game. It's strictly for ease of gameplay.
At 14:13, they test probably the most demanding angle in the game.
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I know some people here hate the Series S but come on.... it's a hugely upgraded visual package on Next Gen.
Panoramic camera:
PS5: Locked 60fps
XSX: fluctuating between 56fps-60fps
This is some low tier bait for people who don't watch the whole video. This is not a camera angle anyone actually uses, it is interesting to see, and notable that the S fairs a little bit better here.
Great video overall by DF, the new lighting makes a world of difference on the models, but I guess we'll get 20 pages about a strange camera angle.
Seems like a bug with the backboard alpha effects on Xbox that's causing the frame drops. John mentions it occurs when they're on screen. Might be a game bug with the Xbox version but I've noticed frame drops tend to happen with other games during heavy alpha effects like water, explosions, smoke and dust on Xbox. Could be an issue with the graphics pipeline.
Thanks for this. Was the loading times compared in the video? I don't see them mentioning only the PS5's loading in the article. From the article it reads like all of the consoles have pretty much eliminated loading screens.
Panoramic camera:
PS5: Locked 60fps
XSX: fluctuating between 56fps-60fps
Omg it dropped a few frames on a camera angle nobody uses! What will we ever do?!
🙄
I've seen a couple YouTube 2K21 Series X videos, it loads the games instantly just like PS5.
Xbox players will be totally fine. But i'm sure most people watch these videos to know which version of the game is best. That part of the video highlights the answer.
Impressive stuff.
XSX continuing to show framerate dips while the PS5 doesn't is mystifying.
XSX continuing to show framerate dips while the PS5 doesn't is mystifying.
That dual sense looks like dil-do.
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On the video John only compares the PS4 version with PS5's, but is easy to assume that the results are the same on XONEX vs XSX and XONE S vs XSS.
I understand where you are coming from, but I think it's more of the technical side of it versus the gameplay usability of it.
The discussion should be why are the frames dropping there versus why would anyone use the camera angle.
Again I understand your point, but DF breakdowns are about the technical nature of the game, not real world usage, so pointing that out is very much in the realm of this discussion
Dark1x
Very good video and I like the fact that you started with talking about sports games in general and the unique challenges. Very good paced video all around. Thanks!
Very good video and I like the fact that you started with talking about sports games in general and the unique challenges. Very good paced video all around. Thanks!
Did you successfully ignore that Series S has 95% of the next gen graphical settings (DoF missing).
Just speaking from personal experiences, loading on XSX is so de minimus that I don't have time to notice it. I would assume that not only is it loading quickly, but probably also pre-loading things while you're in the menu before you even click into a specific mode. I would imagine that PS5 is some degree faster, but it's probably not a practically significant difference in this case
A lot of the old players look worse. lol
They need to rescan their faces.
Series S has feature parity with the PS5/XSX versions (except some missing DOF).
much more advanced Specular highlights on skin
subsurface scattering on the skin
ambient Occlusion shadows
Higher quality materials
Much more responsive and overhauled UI
There's much more to graphics than resolution. Character models on PS4 Pro / One X look like wax figures in comparison.
ya I guess it is a pretty big difference. was watching in mobile. thx
Stop trying to force this console war shit, for real.Panoramic camera:
PS5: Locked 60fps
XSX: fluctuating between 56fps-60fps
The Pro like the One X, where supposed to be PS4 and One at 4K.
Series S is supposed to be the Series X at 1440p. It seems, at the moment, it is more the Series X at 1080p but this is still what it is supposed to be.
People have their agendas.
That's it. Its why I know just put DF threads on ignore after a page or two.
Since when is discussing the content of the video forced console war in a thread made to discuss such minute differences between the same games on different platforms?
I feel like there is a lot of projecting going on in these threads.
This is not a console war actually...
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It might not be relevant in actual gameplay but here we have yet another demonstration that PS5 hardware + software currently outperforming XSX hardware + software combo which is not really a surprise at this point tho.
The whole point of DF is to point out minor technical differences 😂
