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[Digital Foundry] Forspoken Revisited on PS5: Better Visuals, Higher Performance... But What About The Game?

Go_Ly_Dow

Go_Ly_Dow

Member


Not a game for me but good to see they haven't given up improving the technical side of things.

For those interested, seems like some signficant improvents for the following:

-Improved lighting
-Improved resolution
-Improved framerate

Notes how FF16 is a world apart from a tech perspective in all areas. The shadows in 16 > the RT shadows in Forspoken.
 
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See? I told you it was nicely patched.


Say what you want, I thought it was a good game on release. Good mix of crackdown and infamous. Charming characters and somber atmosphere. Some of most fun open world movement too.
I recommend playing it with hdr if you can.

Edit: Curtesy of Gaiff Gaiff
  • Lighting and AO have been overhauled, AO especially seems much improved with crevices and cracks now being properly shaded
  • Lighting intensity has been increased, giving the environment more natural sunlight rather than the usual grey and drab look
  • Not all improved, however, for AO appears to be too intense in some areas, especially when it comes to foliage where it's too aggressive
  • This also results in a significantly noisier image in performance mode where moving foliage has very obvious artifacts it did not have before
  • Fog has been pared back
  • Hair lighting seems to have been altered with 1.2 exhibiting a strange grey shade in some scenes
  • Massive performance improvements. Whereas version 1.0 dipped to the low 20s in intense scenario in Quality Mode, it now mostly remains at 30
  • Same for Performance Mode. In areas where it dipped to the low 40s, it now remains mostly at 60 with the odd frame or two drops
  • 40Hz mode has also been improved, now it mostly remains locked to 40
  • Resolution also seems improved compared to the 1.0 version
  • Pixel count in Quality Mode now ranges from 1440p to 1728p vs 1152p to 1584p in 1.0
  • Pixel count in Performance Mode now ranges from 828p to 1152p vs 720p to 936p in 1.0
  • Overall, significantly improved from its launch and should have shipped like that
  • Still fairly unimpressive visually and compares unfavorably to FF XVI both in graphics and gameplay
In short, for people who were bothered by the uneven performance, it has been largely cleared up and for those interested in the game, now seems to be the best time to jump in.
 
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rofif said:
Say what you want, I thought it was a good game on release. Good mix of crackdown and infamous. Charming characters and somber atmosphere. Some of most fun open world movement too.
Click to expand...

You had to go all the way didn't you? Even without this your premise is a hard sell already but you had to reach as far as you could. That's not a good way to get people on board.
 
DonJorginho said:
Is this worth playing man? had the disc since launch through a friend but never touched it
Click to expand...
Absolutely. If You liked Crackdown, Infamous or even recent hogwarts, the game is kinda a mix of these.
it starts a bit slow and be prepared for that japanese jank in dialogues.
 
Not interested in this game but this analysis is interesting for a number of reasons.

  • Lighting and AO have been overhauled, AO especially seems much improved with crevices and cracks now being properly shaded
  • Lighting intensity has been increased, giving the environment more natural sunlight rather than the usual grey and drab look
  • Not all improved, however, for AO appears to be too intense in some areas, especially when it comes to foliage where it's too aggressive
  • This also results in a significantly noisier image in performance mode where moving foliage has very obvious artifacts it did not have before
  • Fog has been pared back
  • Hair lighting seems to have been altered with 1.2 exhibiting a strange grey shade in some scenes
  • Massive performance improvements. Whereas version 1.0 dipped to the low 20s in intense scenario in Quality Mode, it now mostly remains at 30
  • Same for Performance Mode. In areas where it dipped to the low 40s, it now remains mostly at 60 with the odd frame or two drops
  • 40Hz mode has also been improved, now it mostly remains locked to 40
  • Resolution also seems improved compared to the 1.0 version
  • Pixel count in Quality Mode now ranges from 1440p to 1728p vs 1152p to 1584p in 1.0
  • Pixel count in Performance Mode now ranges from 828p to 1152p vs 720p to 936p in 1.0
  • Overall, significantly improved from its launch and should have shipped like that
  • Still fairly unimpressive visually and compares unfavorably to FF XVI both in graphics and gameplay
In short, for people who were bothered by the uneven performance, it has been largely cleared up and for those interested in the game, now seems to be the best time to jump in.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SlimySnake said:
Yeah but you also told us that it look amazing before it was patched. And now we see just how atrocious it looked.
Click to expand...
I think it looked great on release. I took plenty of great screenshots. HDR helps it a lot.
Maybe not ff16 or hogwarts but really good nonetheless
 
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From my duplicate thread.

Not interested in this game but this analysis is interesting for a number of reasons.

  • Lighting and AO have been overhauled, AO especially seems much improved with crevices and cracks now being properly shaded
  • Lighting intensity has been increased, giving the environment more natural sunlight rather than the usual grey and drab look
  • Not all improved, however, for AO appears to be too intense in some areas, especially when it comes to foliage where it's too aggressive
  • This also results in a significantly noisier image in performance mode where moving foliage has very obvious artifacts it did not have before
  • Fog has been pared back
  • Hair lighting seems to have been altered with 1.2 exhibiting a strange grey shade in some scenes
  • Massive performance improvements. Whereas version 1.0 dipped to the low 20s in intense scenario in Quality Mode, it now mostly remains at 30
  • Same for Performance Mode. In areas where it dipped to the low 40s, it now remains mostly at 60 with the odd frame or two drops
  • 40Hz mode has also been improved, now it mostly remains locked to 40
  • Resolution also seems improved compared to the 1.0 version
  • Pixel count in Quality Mode now ranges from 1440p to 1728p vs 1152p to 1584p in 1.0
  • Pixel count in Performance Mode now ranges from 828p to 1152p vs 720p to 936p in 1.0
  • Overall, significantly improved from its launch and should have shipped like that
  • Still fairly unimpressive visually and compares unfavorably to FF XVI both in graphics and gameplay
In short, for people who were bothered by the uneven performance, it has been largely cleared up and for those interested in the game, now seems to be the best time to jump in.
 
I revisited it like last month on pc. Performance was fine now but the game itself is awful.
 
rofif said:
I think it looked great on release. I took plenty of great screenshots. HDR helps it a lot.
Maybe not ff16 or hogwarts but really good nonetheless
Click to expand...
I love seeing members defend a game that is relentlessly dog piled. Stand your ground dude, there are people who are genuinely interested in hearing thoughts from people who enjoyed the game. đź‘Ť
 
Pretty much a lock I'd say to end up on PS+ in 2024. Its an easy way for SE to make more money and a big title for Sony to use to promote their sub-service.
 
Go_Ly_Dow said:
Notes how FF16 is a world apart from a tech perspective in all areas. The shadows in 16 > the RT shadows in Forspoken.
Click to expand...
I suspect a large portion of the low resolution / performance issues with FFXVI are due to those awesome shadows. I guess we won't fully know until the PC version.
 
Go_Ly_Dow said:


Not a game for me but good to see they haven't given up improving the technical side of things.

For those interested, seems like some signficant improvents for the following:

-Improved lighting
-Improved resolution
-Improved framerate

Notes how FF16 is a world apart from a tech perspective in all areas. The shadows in 16 > the RT shadows in Forspoken.
Click to expand...

Playing games at launch really is for the desperate nowdays .. this game fucking sux.. but the point still stands
 
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So they finally put the current gen patch to the current gen game? LMAO /jk, I didn't think the game looked that bad before but the changes in lighting and performance seem transformative. Are those improvements also on PC, right?
 
Wow, its kinda impressive how they almost locked the framerate in every mode, while also improving resolution, lightning and AO. It shows how unfinished was the game at launch.
 
Not sure why are applauding the fact that yet another game is released in an initial shit state, only for the proper version to come a year or more later.

Schitts Creek What GIF by CBC
 
MikeM said:
Not sure why are applauding the fact that yet another game is released in an initial shit state, only for the proper version to come a year or more later.

Schitts Creek What GIF by CBC
Click to expand...
Game released January 24th
This patch released may 23rd.

YEAR OR LATER YOU SAY !!!!!!!!!!

Anyway. I finished it on release. it was fully playable. I didn't encounter bugs or crashes. The performance was shit though in 1 or 2 biomes but I had enough fun to power through it.
 
MikeM said:
Not sure why are applauding the fact that yet another game is released in an initial shit state, only for the proper version to come a year or more later.

Schitts Creek What GIF by CBC
Click to expand...
For most games, I accept that the official release finally happens when the game becomes around 14.99-19.99 in price(digital). You should do the same and save your money until most games reach that red label 'greatest hits' price. It pays off being a cheap ass gamer.
 
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