I installed the PSVR last night and then Skyrim VR. My PS4 Pro is in a different room than the TV because of how loud it is. The cable for the camera isn't that long (and it's proprietary) so I'll just keep the PSVR setup in the other room since I'll be wearing earphones while playing it. This also means that my wife can watch the big TV while I go to Skyrim in the next room. Setup wasn't too bad. I've got two sets of impressions. The first is Skyrim VR and the second is of PSVR while playing the game.
Skyrim VR is a pretty fantastic experience. Despite any visual issues, the feeling of being there is cool and it works pretty well. Being able to lean down and get really close looks at simple things like lamps or chickens is great, as is the feeling of scale and height which you just don't get with the standard game. Leaning in between the bars on the cages to get a good look inside, or leaning down to look under tables and things is pretty awesome. This is the type of VR experience I've been waiting for before investing in the technology. Combat is greatly improved as well. I'm just using the DS4 for now since the move controllers weren't charged up out of the box. I switched it to smooth control and turned off the FOV vignetting immediately. No nausea whatsoever, though that's never been a problem for me so I didn't expect to have it. I did notice a little stuttering on rare occasion but I chalked this up to tracking issues, though it could certainly be engine jank. Not a big deal though. My biggest complaint with the game is really hardware issues, and that brings me to:
PSVR + PS4 Pro is mixed bag. I don't have any experience with Oculus or Vive so I don't know how they compare, and many of these issues may just be the way it is now. First off, the comfort, tracking, and FOV of the PSVR is superior to the Viewmaster Cardboard viewer I had used before. The screen door effect is there but very subtle. It did not distract me at all. I was very comfortable the whole time and played for about 3 hours straight. Also, I can confirm that the HDR passthrough works as intended. Now the complaints:
- Getting the image to look sharp/clear in both eyes is a real problem for me. I have to fiddle with the headset quite a bit and even then it's almost impossible for one eye or the other to not be slightly blurry. Maybe it's just my big noggin. Kinda surprised there aren't any adjustments for focus or eye distance. Virtual Boy had these.
- Despite my best efforts, I'm somehow getting facial oil on the lenses during use. I guess from my caveman-like brow. Have to wipe them off a lot and this is going to lead to accidental scratching one day or another.
- Once adjusted, the central 50% of the screen is clear, but as you get farther than that toward the edges the blurring and chromatic aberration become quite severe.
- I'm shocked at how poorly the headset handles black/dark areas. OLEDs are known for "Inky Blacks" but on the PSVR it's more of a dark gray with a pattern of slightly greenish OLED mura dots or lines.
- I expected compromised visuals in Skyrim VR such as simpler polygonal models or lower textures. I had watched the youtube videos. What I didn't expect inside the PSVR is how utterly soft the image is, like it's got some kind of super-aggressive fullscreen AA solution, or it's running at a resolution below that of the PSVR and being scaled up and blurred? I know things CAN look sharp in the headset because I played some non-VR games on the virtual screen and they looked fine, albeit downscaled, but at least they did not look look soft. Do all PSVR games have that soft look to them or is this more of a Skyrim problem? If the PS4 Pro looks like this I would hate to see the regular PS4 version.
I just want smooth turns.
