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I can no longer enjoy playing 30 fps games

ACH1LL3US

Member
So I grew up playing NES and all of the systems that came after it and having built a gaming PC the other day it dawned on me what was bothering me on many of the PS4 and Xbox one games I had been playing....

60fps, I installed Forza Horizon 3 on my pc and was playing it at 4k at 60 fps and it honestly did not feel at all the same as my Xbox One X version I have. Not only did the game fee much more responsive due to the higher framerate but it looked so smooth in comparison to the 30fps version.

All of the games I grew up playing and loved as a kid were 60fps. I came to the conclusion after trying so many games out in 60fps on the pc (batman arkham knight, crysis 2 and 3, Forza Horizon 3, need for speed most wanted and hot pursuit etc.) I can no longer enjoy 30fps games. I literally had two 43 inch monitors in 4k next to each other and watched the 30fps version of the game on one and 60fps on the other and the difference is striking not to mention how the games feel.

Digital Foundry did a great video about framerate making a hige difference in the Retro video of Daytona USA. John does such a great job on these videos!!

Does anyone else feel the same way about this?
 

Armorian

Banned
Nope, 30 fps is pretty bad for like ~10 minutes after playing 60 fps game but after that it's perfectly fine (I mean rock solid 30 fps with proper frame pacing).
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
Once I picked up a 144hz 1440p monitor I struggle to play games @ 30 fps almost to the point of making me a little sea sick.

To make things worse if your pc is pushing FH3 4k 60 you should try a 1440p 144 hz you will really get spoiled.

Honestly the difference between 1440p to 4k to my older eyes isnt that big of a difference but 120+ fps and especially HDR makes a way bigger difference.
 

EBE

Member
Nah. People made a big deal out of Gears of War 4 being 30fps in campaign and horde and 60 in multiplayer but switching between the two never produced any sort of disagreeable response from me.
 
As Armorian Armorian said, as long as a game has perfect frame pacing, I'm completely fine with 30fps. Higher framerates are fantastic and always preferable but I certainly won't let the fact that a game runs at 30fps prevent me from enjoying a game.
 

ACH1LL3US

Member
Once I picked up a 144hz 1440p monitor I struggle to play games @ 30 fps almost to the point of making me a little sea sick.

To make things worse if your pc is pushing FH3 4k 60 you should try a 1440p 144 hz you will really get spoiled.

Honestly the difference between 1440p to 4k to my older eyes isnt that big of a difference but 120+ fps and especially HDR makes a way bigger difference.


I have used an Asus 1440p 165hz monitor and to me I prefer 4k over 1440p but the higher framerate of 165 was great but so many games I play do not offer framerates above 60.

As Armorian Armorian said, as long as a game has perfect frame pacing, I'm completely fine with 30fps. Higher framerates are fantastic and always preferable but I certainly won't let the fact that a game runs at 30fps prevent me from enjoying a game.


I hear what you are saying. For me I just cant go back to 30fps :,( Maybe I am alone on this.
 
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HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
I have used an Asus 1440p 165hz monitor and to me I prefer 4k over 1440p but the higher framerate of 165 was great but so many games I play do not offer framerates above 60.

Gotchya

Most PC games I play my PC squeezes 120+ fps and love Forza 7 at 140 fps though I know FH3 would be harder to push.
 
I hear what you are saying. For me I just cant go back to 30fps :,( Maybe I am alone on this.

I'm sure lots of people feel the same and it's likely part of the reason why some 60fps titles (like CoD) sell so well.

However, where there is a will there is a way. It's kind of like jumping between different resolutions or graphical detail levels from games from different gaming eras (PS1 > PS2 > PS3 etc). It just takes an adjustment period before you forget what your initial gripe was. If something was enjoyable to you before, it can be again.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I can notice the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS and it doesn't bother me one bit and If you think Im gonna ignore great games just because runs at 30 FPS, you are out of your mind.
 

Shini42

Member
Depends on the game, but, no, generally I'm OK with stable 30fps. I think that "framerate is king" statement is only true for VR games. And in that case even 60 is way too low.
 
Depends on the game really. Some games feel ok at 30fps. I built my PC 2 years ago and have slowly stopped playing any third party games on console if they're available on PC. When the Switch came out, I enjoyed the fuck out of Zelda even though it was sub 30FPS in some parts of the game. Recently, I played Destiny 2 on PC and could not go back to play it on PS4 because it felt like shit, and ultimately because the game was shit, but anyway..
 
The eternal discussion about fps.
My monitor is 144hz. I reinstalled assassin's creed 4 the other day but to my surprise it's locked to 60hz. Rock solid 60 fps and it feels like shit.
And fuck 4k. Higher framerate is the game changer.
 

dc3k

Member
I can't stand sub 60fps. Console gaming is pretty much out for me other than Switch. I'll eventually get a PS4 for Last of Us remaster + sequel, and Become Human. Hopefully they're all 60+
 
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bitbydeath

Member
Resolution bothers me more TBH.
Although this was more an issue last gen as opposed to this gen. 1080P is great.

That said I don’t really play much multiplayer so maybe that is why.
 

RainblowDash

Gold Member
I play a little bit of PS4 and Xbone, but mostly PC due to the superior experience.

If it weren't for Pokemon, I'd be done with handhelds completely.
 
All racing, FPS, TPS, RTS and platforming games should run at 60 fps minimum. Daytona USA set the bar for all 3D games to follow (and that was in the 1990's). Any racing game running below that is trash and is simply EYE CANDY.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
I think this 30 FPS hate is crazy. How the hell do you ever watch movies if it is that big of a deal?

They're not comparable.

24 fps film is consistent, the cinematography is deliberately and carefully composed around its framerate at all times, and the shutter speeds introduce natural motion blur effects. It's also a passive experience. Low framerate gaming disrupts the responsiveness of player input, and controlling the camera yourself in a 24fps game can easily induce nausea.
 

bati

Member
I think this 30 FPS hate is crazy. How the hell do you ever watch movies if it is that big of a deal?

EviLore EviLore already explained why this happens so I'll just expand on it. In a 60 fps game the inputs are parsed every 16ms, in a 30 fps it's only every 33ms. Might not seem much but it's very noticeable when it comes to a continuous string of inputs (rather than just reacting to an event). But yeah, I have absolutely no problem watching someone play at 30 fps, it even feels fluid to my eyes (without motion blur that works differently than in movies anyway). If I'm in the control of the game however I'll notice any inconsistency in framerate - fluctuations in number of frames and even frame times. There's some variation based on the control scheme you use though, for me personally when playing with a kbm anything less than 50-55 is hard on the eyes because of camera control, with a gamepad I can comfortably drop another 5-10 frames and I'll hardly notice.
 

MrMorningMan

Neo Member
About a year ago I had switched completely to PC gaming for a time. I saved up, bought an okay gaming PC (i5 6400, 8GB, GTX 970) and with medium-high settings I was able to play most titles at 1080/60 and it was fantastic. I switched back to console purely because I knew I wouldn't be able to afford the cost of upgrading components. The initial shift from 60 to 30 (and below in some cases) was jarring. I found I was able to notice all the little stutters and drops in framerate which hurt the experience. However, after so many months I've adjusted, and so long as the console version is well optimised and maintains a stable framerate, I'm absolutely a-okay with 30 frames per second.
 
I think this 30 FPS hate is crazy. How the hell do you ever watch movies if it is that big of a deal?

So it's to do with the amount of information given to you- you can think of this like the 'thickness' of the frames. In a 24fps movie, each frame has the 'width' of nearly 1/24th of a second - and contains (nearly) all the information from that particular 1/24th of a second. In a game, a frame is just an instant - it doesn't have any thickness (although we try to add this with additional motion blur, etc...) - so the amount of information given to you is far less, which is why we generally prefer to have more frames per second in games, as it gives us more information.

I mean- this is a big generalisation and really rough, but this is more kinda how you can visualise why it's different:
Code:
information given in ~30fps filmed video frames:
[------]..[------]..[------]..
information given in game frames 30fps:
[-].......[-].......[-].......
information in game frames 60fps:
[-]..[-]..[-]..[-]..[-]..[-]..
possible effect of game frames 30fps+good motion blur:
[---].....[---].....[---].....
possible effect of game frames 60fps+good motion blur:
[---][---][---][---][---][---]
 

cooper59

Banned
i cant tell a difference and neither can 99% of the people. really dont care. personally i havent seen a pc game i enjoy as much as console game.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
The fluidity 60fps brings is rather splendid, but a solid 30fps doesn't bother me.
Its kinda of like an OCD thing, where your playing a 30fps game and all you can think about is what its like at 60fps.
Try and not think about it and just play the game, because if u dont think about it, it wont be a problem.
 
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KevinKeene

Banned
It's a really crass difference in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for Switch. Most of the game is spent in 30fps. Then a 1vs1 battle occurs and it's like a whole different game.
 

VulcanRaven

Member
I can tell the difference between 30 and 60 fps clearly but I have no problem with 30 fps. MGSV and The Last of Us feel so good to play because of the butter smooth 60fps but I can still enjoy 30 fps games.
 

JimboJones

Member
It's a really crass difference in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 for Switch. Most of the game is spent in 30fps. Then a 1vs1 battle occurs and it's like a whole different game.

Yeah anytime your going straight from 60 to 30 is rough, that initial 20 or so minutes sucks.
On another note why does Facebook not have 60fps video yet, cheapskates.
 
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JimmyRustler

Gold Member
Frame pacing is the magic word.

30 fps with great frame pacing (see Horizon and ACO on the PS4) are just fine. 30 fps with bad frame pacing (see Bloodborne or Witcher 3) is not.
 

carsar

Member
I always prefer 30fps with better graphics(only possible with 4k or dsr 4k, because last games look vey bad at 1080p or 1440p with taa) instead of 60fps.
 
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Chastten

Banned
Sucks to be you, I guess.

I always feel sorry for people not being able to tolerate a certain number of FPS, resolution or screensize. You're missing out on so many great games :(
 

Graven

Member
Sorry for you, i do like me some 60FPS, but i can go with 30FPS just fine, as long it's not extremely inconsistent.
 

Bankai

Member
It's all about context for me. Lots of games work just fine @30fps, for example JRPG's. I am currently playing Ni No Kuni and it's a solid 30fps with correct framepacing. Don't have any troubles with it at all.
I played Deus Ex Mankind divided @30fps.. and it sucked, felt slow and not unresponsive.
 

BANGS

Banned
That's a real shame, some of the best games in history can only be played at 30fps... Sorry for your loss...
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
i cant tell a difference and neither can 99% of the people. really dont care. personally i havent seen a pc game i enjoy as much as console game.

I loved made up stats. Or possibly I am in the 1% and so is my wife, my son, his wife, my dad who is a 75 year old gamer, several of my gamer friends who stopped in to see the new HDR monitor, my 13 year old nephew who way preferred playing Fortnite on my PC at 144 FPS..... come to think of it every single person who has seen the exact same game running at double of even triple the frames as a console loved the higher frame experience.
 

NahaNago

Member
So you've been playing 30fps all these years but only "now" after doing several tests for 60 fps can you no longer enjoy playing 30 fps games.
 

deathsaber

Member
I've always been in the position that 100% locked and stable 30 fps is perfectly fine and perfectly smooth, no problems, and that would include shooters.

That said- 30 with drops is noticeable and way worse than say 60ps with drops into the 40-50 range when in stress.
 

NickFire

Member
I've never really played a game where I felt held back by 30. Unstable frame rates bother me, but I am ok with 30 locked. If it were a fast paced shooter maybe I'd notice. But I always thought destiny was 30 and never had any frame rate complaints about it.
 
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