I disagree. We've seen with things like the Ubisoft games on PC, that you can reduce things to slider settings. Draw distances, asset levels and resolutions, etc. We saw with MM that you can do the same thing with the number of items in the game world as well. The PS4 would simply have less on screen than what the PS5, without impacting gameplay at all. There should also be a certain amount of overlap in assets anyway, given that it would make sense for the PS5 to use all the same LOD, with the PS5 version having 1-2 higher level LOD levels for each asset. It means artists could just make assets at full fidelity, and then tesselate down, while fine-tuning each lower level asset to look right. All the rest can be slider settings in the engine, with some manual customizations to fine-tune the look in certain areas. This fine-tuning would be done anyway, so prioritize the PS5 version for that step, over the PS4.
I think I misunderstood what you said. I think I get what you mean now. You are correct with this, but this only concerns graphical fidelity.
I don't think this analogy works. Sorry, I don't follow it.
The analogy isn't the best. I meant to say that you can bag a lot more groceries to take home and fuel your body when you carry a big sturdy bag vs a tiny unreliable one. You won't be able to fuel your body well enough with the little groceries you were able to get if you carry a tiny unreliable bag. You can't bag the same amount as the big sturdy bag. And you won't be able to do it with the same ease. Not the clearest analogy, but you should be able to get it.
Yes, the added loading speed opens up the ability to try new things, but I've never read anything about the technical limitations imposed on HZD by the HDD. Travel speed would be the only one I can think of, but that's not something they couldn't limit in the PS4 version of a game. There are no time trials involved. So it would just be a matter of mounted travel being slower on the PS4 than the PS5 version. That's not a complicated design choice.
As far as loading assets into a scene, they could favor the PS5 version, and lower the asset quality for the PS4 version, in order to allow streaming of the same content in the same period of time. There's no reason to keep the highest fidelity on the lower version, if it compromises the higher version. That wouldn't be a smart design decision. They have a strong baseline for what they can accomplish on the PS4 already, so just maintaining that shouldn't be an issue.
In any case, I think from the demo, it appears that they're aiming for a 30fps game. That would suggest to me that they've found ways to work the CUs hard enough that going for 60fps isn't currently sustainable. That means there must be more than enough data being pushed around. We don't currently have evidence to support the idea that the SSD could have given them anything more to work with for the game.
Just because you haven't heard directly from Guerilla Games about the technical limitations doesn't mean that they aren't present. The fact of the matter is that they need to develop for the lowest common denominator.
Yes you have mentioned this point before, and I agree, but only when it comes to graphical fidelity.
The SSD dictates design choices, not graphical choices only. If you were a developer, and you know you can't do certain stuff because you have to take the PS4 into account, then you might have room for other stuff on the PS5 yes. But you don't want to keep the extra room of the PS5 unused, so you'll probably max out other things that don't fundamentally change the game when compared to the PS4.
This is valid, but not known. So while it's a nice hypothetical, it's not one that's been born out historically by other sequels that span generations. Traditionall, building on past success has been the safest route for many games, and if this game was always going to target a 2021 release, I don't know if we should have expected anything adventurous for this open-world game. It always had a high probability of being a case of bigger, better, badder, which means more assets and more detail.
Again, just because the devs haven't blatantly told us that they couldn't do things because they were tethered to the PS4, doesn't mean that's not the case. It would be stupid of them to tell to be honest. The devs don't want to take the excitement away from fans and say, 'here's something that's heavily compromised compared to our original vision, please don't mind that'. Guerilla Games is also a 1st party studio, even indirectly telling people that the PS4 is trash wouldn't do well with their relationship with Sony.
I am not sure if I can agree with you on 'It always had a high probability of being a case of bigger, better, badder, which means more assets and more detail' statement. I get where you are coming from and in as many cases I can agree with you, there are just as many cases that I can think of where I disagree with you. The thing is that the SSD is one of the biggest leaps in gaming history. In the past, it has been just 'bigger, better, badder', mainly because what's possible now with the SSD wasn't possible back then. I'm sure you've seen devs say that it really revolutionizes the way the devs think and approach game design. This is in my opinion really not a hyperbole.
The point is, you are looking for direct proof, which is impossible to get. Neither for my statement nor yours. The fact however is that the PS5 is far superior to the PS4 and that the SSD does in fact give devs possibilities that arent possible before. It's also fact that Guerilla Games can't speak badly about the PS4 as well as dampening the hype of their own fanbase.
We will almost certainly see more assets and NPCs, which are more lively. AI is rarely an issue of hardware these days, but game design. There's nothing to limit animation fluidity, as that's handled in asset creation, and the game will share assets on both systems. We see gameplay features being added. I doubt there was going to be world streaming like R&C, and I've not heard anyone suggest another gameplay mechanic that requires large amounts of data to be pulled in to accomplish.
So I think better designed worlds is the main question here. In what ways could they have designed the worlds better if they didn't have to worry about the PS4? That question can never be answered, unless the devs themselves mention ideas that they had to scrap. Until then, it's an unknown that is being stated as a given. That's much of my issue with all of this. This isn't a new IP, it's building on a foundation that is rooted in the PS4's tech. Expecting enough of a departure from that, that would be considered a hindrance, currently lacks the requisite proof. All IMO.
More assets and NPC's is a possibility for the PS5 yes. But the point is that the difference can't be too huge when compared to the PS4. Who knows how much more populated it can get when it doesn't need to be tethered to the PS4? It can absolutely change the perception of the whole game. The more code you can add, the better you can make the AI, this is simply the truth. What I meant by fluidity was the number of animations they can add to the game, chaining those together and have the overall game look more fluid. And not the fluidity of a single animation. Think of Dying Light 2 where the main character has 3000 parkour animations or any sports game where each player has thousands and thousands of animations so you can differentiate all the players and have things look and feel more realistic. Gameplay features have of course been added, but nothing big. Look at what other people say, most of them think it looks more of the same gameplay and features side. We are gamers, not developers, there are many things we haven't thought about, doesn't mean the devs haven't thought about it.
You continue to ask for proof, yet you can't provide them yourself. Don't you agree that this is slightly hypocritical? As previously said, Guerilla Games would never mention this, until the next installment comes along. People who say that the PS4 holds back the PS5 can at least lean on the fact that the PS5 is a much more capable console than the PS4. Devs themselves have said it revolutionizes the way they make games.
Also, you have never addressed the problem that the devs must always trade in time and resources to make the PS4 version. Be it simple tweaks or throwing away huge amounts of work just because they've discovered things aren't possible on the PS4. Whichever it is, everything takes time and resources that they need to spend on the PS4 version. Even IF it's just little tweaks (which I highly doubt), all those little tweaks combined, accumulate to a huge effort.
