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Digital Foundry Tech Analysis: Destiny alpha on PS4

Yeah exactly. The game is out in September, so with a game of this scale it's not an Alpha. They are in the final stretch now just fixing bugs. The "Beta" they are doing will have more things switched on I would expect and more people in the game.

It's good that they are testing the servers in advance though...no one wants those day 1 issues. If i didn't want the white PS4 so much I probably would be undecided if I was going to get it or not, but what I've played so far has been enjoyable.op

The frame rate seemed fine to me, though i only saw about 4 people in the surrounding areas and some NPC's so not exactly lots happening.

Yup. At best the beta and alpha is network stress test, and maybe minimal balance changes.

If people want to see actual alpha, they should look at the Mirrors Edge 2 footage from this week. That's what an alpha game looks like.
 
Not at all. The world itself is devoid of context and purpose. Entirely.

I get the distinct impression that bungie has cut out all of the story elements specifically to avoid spoilers.

They want to test their servers and get feedback from the community. They do not want to spoil the story in the process. It is strange that people don't understand this.
 

Curufinwe

Member
Yup. At best the beta and alpha is network stress test, and maybe minimal balance changes.

If people want to see actual alpha, they should look at the Mirrors Edge 2 footage from this week. That's what an alpha game looks like.

Public Alphas and Public betas are their own thing now, and basically have nothing to do with actual alphas and betas.
 

Chazprime

Banned
Yeah I've played the alpha and it is not a bad looking game. The character models in the creation looks good but the environments doesn't that good in my eyes. The number of people saying how good it looks has made me question my own eyes and pay more attention to visuals while playing but I'm just not seeing anything "stunning".

Same here. The alpha is fun to play, but I find the graphics completely bland. And that SIGGRAPH presentation Bungie made just last year...what a joke. Ambient occlusion and god rays...woohooo.
 
Public Alphas and Public betas are their own thing now, and basically have nothing to do with actual alphas and betas.

Yeah. It's kinda ruining it for people. The perception of what state a game is in, in reality, is being changed when it's turned into marketing terms.
 
I think it looks beautiful on a big screen, and I haven't run into any issues with performance myself.
It's a bit baffling to see POM absent on a lot of these games that have featured it in their initial demos. Watch_Dogs, Destiny. Hopefully they will be able to utilize the effect on consoles in time.

POM is for the PC version, no worries
unless they take the watch dogs route and just completely get rid of it
 

Kydd BlaZe

Member
Why are people assuming that this game should run at 60 fps? This is a massive open world game with a very large scale. Outside of Rage (which isn't even doing half of the stuff that Destiny is doing) I can't think of one open world console game that ran at 60fps. Now if this game was a corridor crawl, like pretty much every other shooter out there...then I could understand the 30fps uproar.
 
Whoa, I thought Destiny was 60fps for some reason. All interest is gone now. Console FPS with a gamepad AND 30fps. Can't do it. Won't do it.
What a ridiculous position. Try the game first, at least.
Why are people assuming that this game should run at 60 fps? This is a massive open world game with a very large scale. Outside of Rage (which isn't even doing half of the stuff that Destiny is doing) I can't think of one open world console game that ran at 60fps. Now if this game was a corridor crawl, like pretty much every other shooter out there...then I could understand the 30fps uproar.
People want higher numbers regardless of what the developer is trying to do.
 

Salz01

Member
I'd really like to know how old this alpha is. It must be a few months old at least. Hopefully Bungie improves upon the release build. I just can't help but think the game should perform better. When looking at their old E3 presentations it seems smoother and the IQ seems a tad bit better. What's in the alpha isn't bad, but it's not great either. I can only help compare it to frostbite because battlefield is the only other cross gen game I own on the ps4, and I feel it looks and performs better than Destiny at this point.
 

Stranya

Member
I really hope they fix the frame stuttering issue before launch. 30fps is fine by me, but I could tell very quickly when playing the Alpha that something wasn't quite right with the frame rate.
 

Kelsey

Banned
The framerate issue was the first thing I noticed. I assumed it was dropping frames because of all the judder I was seeing. I guess not. If the problem persists into the beta, I'll be worried.
 

RetroStu

Banned
Bungie really are average. But this isn t a popular thinking. Sad truth...

Halo:CE and Halo 2 looked amazing at the time, especially Halo:CE which looked the best looking game i had ever seen at the time, some of the textures on that game still look good even today.
Having said that, yeah they haven't really pushed on much over the last 10 years.
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
game looks a beauty, but fuck me, that 30 fps makes me limp.

Don't post that on Youtube, you'll get flamed pretty hard. All the top comments are console gamers circle jerking about how 30fps is amazing and 60fps makes no difference.
 

DodgerSan

Member
Really silly to try and judge the story from an alpha that starts you at level 3 with no context or tutorial.

I expect the final game to have plenty of story and lore.

Precisely. This is a look and feel, nothing more. Well, maybe some data collection on Bungie's end.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I hope they fix that frame timing issue. It's definitely noticeable and I thought the framerate was below 30 in free roam because of it.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
That's... a Titan 6GB SLI

I can read. ;) It's irrelevant when I'm referring to the measurable decline in performance. I certainly wasn't trying to say, "If Ubisoft used SMAA in Watch Dogs on the PS4 it'd run at over 100fps!"
 
I really hope bungie fix this, the framerate issue is extremely jarring, my only gripe with the game pretty much. They could at least improve the FOV and add motion blur.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I really hope bungie fix this, the framerate issue is extremely jarring, my only gripe with the game pretty much. They could at least improve the FOV and add motion blur.
Agreed. I'd also like to see better AA and some higher res textures but that may be asking for too much. I don't know how much is placeholder and how much isn't in the alpha.
 

EL CUCO

Member
This is officially the last cross gen game that I'm purchasing.

COD:AW doesn't count because they'll hit 60fps

Side note: I was in the camp that was doubting the alpha being 1080. Its nice to see that it is but they really need some better AA. The "soft look" isn't doing the IQ justice.

As far as framerate, the moment I played Destiny the 30fps hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. I wonder how high the framerate is, without being capped 30. I almost want them to unlock the framerate with an option to lock at 30. I had no issues playing infamous, or Killzone with its unlocked framerate.

Fix this shit Guerrilla!
 
Just wanna chime in here from the Alpha: playing the Alpha solo was the worst thing I've played on my PS4. Its not like Borderlands at all, where you can still play it solo and enjoy it for the action, loot, story and humour. Solo-play Destiny is boring, and not very fun. The game has little story, and what it does have is terribly executed. It doesn't play like a normal FPS, far too slow, so you have to play it like a typical group-based MMO. In a group, the game is really quite fun, infinitely better than playing on your own, and you don't mind the lack of story at all with others to play with. I was a doubter, and the alpha has convinced me to wait for the beta, but yeah, don't get Destiny if you're intending to play on your own - you'll hate it.

Little stroy? You're playing the alpha... Things like story is the last thing they're gonna show off in this stage.
 
Just wanna chime in here from the Alpha: playing the Alpha solo was the worst thing I've played on my PS4. Its not like Borderlands at all, where you can still play it solo and enjoy it for the action, loot, story and humour. Solo-play Destiny is boring, and not very fun. The game has little story, and what it does have is terribly executed. It doesn't play like a normal FPS, far too slow, so you have to play it like a typical group-based MMO. In a group, the game is really quite fun, infinitely better than playing on your own, and you don't mind the lack of story at all with others to play with. I was a doubter, and the alpha has convinced me to wait for the beta, but yeah, don't get Destiny if you're intending to play on your own - you'll hate it.

I'd rather no story than the childish shit the borderlands games serve up.
 

oneils

Member
This is officially the last cross gen game that I'm purchasing.

COD:AW doesn't count because they'll hit 60fps

Side note: I was in the camp that was doubting the alpha being 1080. Its nice to see that it is but they really need some better AA. The "soft look" isn't doing the IQ justice.

As far as framerate, the moment I played Destiny the 30fps hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. I wonder how high the framerate is, without being capped 30. I almost want them to unlock the framerate with an option to lock at 30. I had no issues playing infamous, or Killzone with its unlocked framerate.

Fix this shit Guerrilla!

Do you mean bungie?
 
I'm so tired of this 30 vs 60 bullshit, let's play it, enjoy.

(Not directed at any specific poster, more like a generic rant.)

I've had enough with the "you don't really care about 60 fps, you just want bigger numbers" BS attitude that's prevailing in these threads. I can completely understand why someone would skip a game based on a number; I've insta-skipped the latest NFS games because of the framerate, and guess what? When I played one of them on a friend's console, it felt as bad as I expected.

Destiny looks like a good enough game that I'm quite likely to buy it and deal with the 30 fps, but it will never feel smooth to me and the pretty pixels will keep turning into a crappy mess whenever I move the camera sideways. This is not a matter of opinion, e-peen or hardware wars. It's a solid fact for me and a lot of others. I'm trying to avoid complaining about it everywhere, but please excuse us if we happen to mention our preference for a smoother game in a thread about a game you like. Besides, this thread kind of directly deals with these issues.

Also, that's why these DF performance reviews are a godsend. Hard data always trumps "i dunno, it's really smooth".
 

VanWinkle

Member
The framerate thing is definitely noticeable, and it really needs per object motion blur to help it look smoother. Overall it is a very good looking game, though.
 

omonimo

Banned
It's virtually no more expensive than FXAA:

watch-dogs-anti-aliasing-performance-chart.png


That's a difference of about 5%.
FXAA it's pratically free, SMAA cost as 2xMSAA. I know, it's not a crazy cost for ps4 but SMAA still remain more expensive just for this.
 
It's probably been mentioned, but why is there no dynamic lighting from firing weapons. Seems really odd firing in complete darkness doesn't at least light up the interiors. I've only played up to the wizard so I've only seen a very small part of the alpha.
 
I actually find the build already really strong, considering that it's an alpha and all. Haven't found anything that made me say, this needs to be fixed yet. Game's buttery smooth.
 
Boss★Moogle;116489777 said:
I knew it didn't feel liket a smooth 30, it felt really bad at times, i hope they fix this.

For me there's never a "smooth" 30 with shooters. It's so disappointing that this game is 30fps but it's a great game and I'm having a lot of fun with the alpha.
 
I'm pretty sure this is the first alpha I've ever had the chance to play. Technically it has been rock solid to me. Nice menu designs, beautiful landscapes, no noticeable frame rate issues. If it looks and runs this well today, the beta and final game will be something special.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
30 fps is a big disappointment.
30 fps for console FPS should be a last gen feature, especially when it's not a particularly pretty game in the first place.

Fair enough if it was a graphical showcase of a game, but it isn't.
Titanfall not being locked 60 fps was also a massive disappointment but Destiny is coming out much later.
 
30 fps is a big disappointment.
30 fps for console FPS should be a last gen feature, especially when it's not a particularly pretty game in the first place.

Fair enough if it was a graphical showcase of a game, but it isn't.
Titanfall not being locked 60 fps was also a massive disappointment but Destiny is coming out much later.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but 30fps will still be around no matter what gen we get to.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I don't know why anyone is surprised by 30fps. All of Bungie's games have been 30 and it was confirmed to be 30 a year ago.
 

psychotron

Member
I knew it!! I noticed the same issue Infamous had with stuttering, but to a much lesser degree. This, IMO, is worse than dips in framerate. It's not too bad in this but still.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
FXAA it's pratically free, SMAA cost as 2xMSAA. I know, it's not a crazy cost for ps4 but SMAA still remain more expensive just for this.

The cost of SMAA depends on what type you're using. With 1x the difference between it and FXAA is practically non-existent:



Obviously in cases where a game is struggling to maintain a playable framerate it'd be wise to opt for FXAA to pick up a few extra frames, but it's viable otherwise.
 

tanooki27

Member
Your loss, quality game based on the Alpha alone and in no way do the technical aspects diminish any enjoyment whatsoever.

wrong. the joy of video games is seeing your inputs represented onscreen. if something gets in the way of this, like a less-than-ideal framerate, then you better believe my enjoyment is diminished.
 

Bsigg12

Member
I don't know why anyone is surprised by 30fps. All of Bungie's games have been 30 and it was confirmed to be 30 a year ago.

This will be the generation of numbers as we've already seen over the last 8 months. Doesn't matter if the game is fun, if it doesn't have certain numbers tied to it people are going to call it a failure.
 

matmanx1

Member
Interesting analysis. It will be even more interesting to see how different the retail release ends up being than what we have now. I'm not expecting massive differences but rather incremental refinements that hopefully will make the game look and run a little bit better.

I already think the art is great and the Old Russia area is nice to look at. I'm fairly happy with the state of the game, as is, and after doing some tougher areas and missions last night I have high hopes for the final product.

Then again, I'm an RPG guy who just happens to play shooters a little bit on the side and not the other way around.
 
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