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Digital Foundry vs Uncharted 3

charsace said:
ROFL. Gears 3 is top notch in every way. And there are great looking multiplatform games.

Battlefield 3
Crysis 1 and 2
Metro 2033
RDR
GTA4
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Are all technically impressive and all multiplatform. People on here love to act like Uncharted is on its own level. That isn't the case.
I've played all of those but Metro, and I'm sorry I just don't see it. Metro is one if the most technically impressive games out there, on PC. The same with Crysis 1 and 2. As far as console games go, U3 is matched by very few.
 
charsace said:
ROFL. Gears 3 is top notch in every way. And there are great looking multiplatform games.

Battlefield 3
Crysis 1 and 2
Metro 2033
RDR
GTA4
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Are all technically impressive and all multiplatform. People on here love to act like Uncharted is on its own level. That isn't the case.

It is the case. God of War 3 and Uncharted 2 and 3 are the most impressive console games this generation when it comes to graphics.
 
cjtiger300 said:
I've played all of those but Metro, and I'm sorry I just don't see it. Metro is one if the most technically impressive games out there, on PC. The same with Crysis 1 and 2. As far as console games go, U3 is matched by very few.

The point people are trying to make is that those are all very impressive games that look great considering their scale, I think. Uncharted looks goddamn amazing, but the series is pretty restrictive. Likewise, Metro 2033 is essentially a corridor shooter. AssBro and Red Dead are pretty impressive console feats, considering how huge they are and how good they can look.

It's all relative. Sure, Uncharted looks amazing, but it's not really fair to expect games that aren't also cinematic third-person shooters to look just like it.
 
charsace said:
ROFL. Gears 3 is top notch in every way. And there are great looking multiplatform games.

Battlefield 3
Crysis 1 and 2
Metro 2033
RDR
GTA4
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Are all technically impressive and all multiplatform. People on here love to act like Uncharted is on its own level. That isn't the case.
But it is the case and god of war 3
 
funkystudent said:
Not alot of technical analysis for a DF artical.

Spent more time talking about the games liniar level design then the tech.


It's a shame. Im sure people would want a in dept look at U3's graphics.

Hopefully ND will participate at GDC next year.

They had some crazy informative stuff the past years. The two notable ones, imo, were:
1 - Uncharted 2 - Art Direction
2 - Uncharted 2 - Character Pipeline

There's stuff like having 246 joints in a character's in-game rig; 97 joints in the face alone. U3 may be even higher. Most games barely reach 100 joints total for a humanoid character. AssCreedBro has ~90, for example.
 
Not sure why people are arguing in this thread. It's a tech thread about Uncharted, hyperbole should be expected. =p

RoboPlato said:
I'm pretty sure the game doesn't use MLAA but ND's own AA solution.

To be fair, any PPAA is essentially an intelligent edge blur filter and in this case whatever they are using isn't quite as consistent as MSAA used in UC2 (even if that was broken as well).
 
BigJiantRobut said:
The point people are trying to make is that those are all very impressive games that look great considering their scale, I think. Uncharted looks goddamn amazing, but the series is pretty restrictive. Likewise, Metro 2033 is essentially a corridor shooter. AssBro and Red Dead are pretty impressive console feats, considering how huge they are and how good they can look.

It's all relative. Sure, Uncharted looks amazing, but it's not really fair to expect games that aren't also cinematic third-person shooters to look just like it.
If you are talking open world games, Infamous 2 looks and runs better than all of those open world games. RDR looks great too, but I see it one notch down. AssBro is a framerate and screen tearing mess. I loved the game, but from a purely tech standpoint, it drags behind RDR and I2.
 
wow the new eurogamer design makes it impassable to find this story on the site without coming back here to find the direct link.


Anyway..... I watch that video of the game running at 60 fps.


Normally I dont think I have a eye for such things but holy cow 60 fps really adds something to the games animations. everything just looks so much smoother from drakes running animation to the wind in his scarf.


1080p 60fps Uncharted HD'er collection on ps4 plz!
 
KageMaru said:
Not sure why people are arguing in this thread. It's a tech thread about Uncharted, hyperbole should be expected. =p

To be fair, any PPAA is essentially an intelligent edge blur filter and in this case whatever they are using isn't quite as consistent as MSAA used in UC2 (even if that was broken as well).

Strange that DF doesn't drill ND on the details.

Hybole exists in uncharted threads because the game hit high enough. Not every game can achieve this level of tech sensation.
 
funkystudent said:
wow the new eurogamer design makes it impassable to find this story on the site without coming back here to find the direct link.


Anyway..... I watch that video of the game running at 60 fps.


Normally I dont think I have a eye for such things but holy cow 60 fps really adds something to the games animations. everything just looks so much smoother from drakes running animation to the wind in his scarf.


1080p 60fps Uncharted HD collection on ps4 plz!
That would be amazing and I would buy it day 1!
 
All those games are technically impressive. In games like Gears 3, Uncharted 3 and GOW 3 where you follow small, linear paths where levels are designed to maximize the hardware, right down to adding doorways and hard turns to limit draw distance, you can manage the look of the game much easier than you can in Assassin's Creed, RDR or Battlefield 3 where environments are bigger or allow you to stray from the linear progression your LOD system requires more work. You lose out on resources in a game like Assassin's Creed because more resources are used to do things that people don't see when they look at the game.
 
KageMaru said:
Not sure why people are arguing in this thread. It's a tech thread about Uncharted, hyperbole should be expected. =p



To be fair, any PPAA is essentially an intelligent edge blur filter and in this case whatever they are using isn't quite as consistent as MSAA used in UC2 (even if that was broken as well).
I'm pretty sure it uses a console version of FXAA do to the lower memory footprint. It's hypothesized they went with it to free up memory for 3D implementation.
 
jett said:
Pixar's characters look too plastic. Fucking garbage.
Well to be fair Uncharted doesn't exactly have an exaggerated art style.For the most part it seems like they are trying be realistic, if their intention was to have a plastic look then they did a bang up job.
 
I absolutely love how they can stream all that they do from the Blu Ray, pretty awesome.
You may have seen the cruise ship level. What people may not realise is that it's not just a big object that we are animating, it's one enormous physics object whose movement is driven by another dynamic system we have in the game: our new dynamic sea system. So each time that Drake rocks around on the deck of that ship the movement he is subject to is unique.
Well, that makes the cruise ship an even greater level then.
 
kokujin said:
Well to be fair Uncharted doesn't exactly have an exaggerated art style.For the most part it seems like they are trying be realistic, if their intention was to have a plastic look then they did a bang up job.

Not even close. You really have no clue.

And their character models are the best in the business, how the hell can you hate on them?

Uncharted3_1.jpg
 
kokujin said:
The people still look like plastic.
Better plastic than look like real people. I don't want any uncanny valley.

kokujin said:
Well to be fair Uncharted doesn't exactly have an exaggerated art style.For the most part it seems like they are trying be realistic, if their intention was to have a plastic look then they did a bang up job.
Just...no.

They're not trying to go for realism.
 
kokujin said:
Well to be fair Uncharted doesn't exactly have an exaggerated art style.For the most part it seems like they are trying be realistic, if their intention was to have a plastic look then they did a bang up job.

They wanted a painted realistic look.
 
lastinline said:
I absolutely love how they can stream all that they do from the Blu Ray, pretty awesome.

Well, that makes the cruise ship an even greater level then.
You should hear podcast beyond interview with one of nd guy. They explain they tried faking the cruise ship swaying but it's actually haredr and more resource intensive to do it that way. Lol
 
charsace said:
All those games are technically impressive. In games like Gears 3, Uncharted 3 and GOW 3 where you follow small, linear paths where levels are designed to maximize the hardware, right down to adding doorways and hard turns to limit draw distance, you can manage the look of the game much easier than you can in Assassin's Creed, RDR or Battlefield 3 where environments are bigger or allow you to stray from the linear progression your LOD system requires more work. You lose out on resources in a game like Assassin's Creed because more resources are used to do things that people don't see when they look at the game.

That's just a general design constraint, but it doesn't stop ND from adding volumetric lighting @ 720p, integrated physics system for the entire level on simulated waves (this is beyond linear moving train in U2), seamless switches between gameplay and cinematic views while streaming animation from BD without HDD install, overall great lighting, character model with dynamic animation and improved eye animation, etc., etc., etc.

All this in PS3's limited split pool memory, and so-called slow BR drive.
 
It's definitely the most visually stunning game I've seen. Chapter 13 looks unreal.

A big piece of it is the animation. I realize animation's not purely rendering technology, but it definitely adds to the realism.
 
cjtiger300 said:
The game is not meant to be photorealistic like Crysis.
What a cop-out. So the characters are supposed to look like plastic dolls? Why bother with SSS shading and physically correct lighting or the mo-capped animation then.
 
jett said:
Not even close. You really have no clue.

And their character models are the best in the business, how the hell can you hate on them?

Uncharted3_1.jpg
They are one of the best, but the best? That's a bold claim. Especially when they are using models that are generally 25k+ polygons. Gears and Crysis doesn't go over 20k for their main characters and they look great. Capcom has some great modelers. Leon in Resident Evil 4 can't be more than 15k polys and the model looks great even today. The upcoming assassin's creed game has some good looking models and they can't be over 15k. Rockstar is showing what they can do with Max Payne 3.
 
Metroid-Squadron said:
What a cop-out. So the characters are supposed to look like plastic dolls? Why bother with SSS shading and physically correct lighting or the mo-capped animation then.

To minimize uncanny valley effect, after they throw in all the human elements like facial expression, including eye animation.

I don't think they are supposed to look like plastic, but they are not aiming for photorealism nonetheless.
 
BigJiantRobut said:
To be fair, isn't that shot from a cutscene that ended up as a video file in the game?

What does it matter when the only time you see the characters up close are doing cut-scenes, and what we are discussing is model quality and nothing else?

charsace said:
They are one of the best, but the best? That's a bold claim. Especially when they are using models that are generally 25k+ polygons. Gears and Crysis doesn't go over 20k for their main characters and they look great. Capcom has some great modelers. Leon in Resident Evil 4 can't be more than 15k polys and the model looks great even today. The upcoming assassin's creed game has some good looking models and they can't be over 15k. Rockstar is showing what they can do with Max Payne 3.

ND's models shit on all of your examples. How's that for a bold claim.
 
It is not so impressive quoting polys in character model in isolation. Animate them together, eyes, face and body, light them dynamically and volumetrically in 720p, make them run on a sinking ship with turbulent physics water, or platform in the busy streets of Yemen, switch back and forth between cutscenes, maintain the framerate, add "real" stereoscopic 3D, etc.

Note that Nathan, Elena, Sully and Chloe have hair. They don't wear head gears, and they are not bald (although the enemies mostly are)

On top of these, add good art and character personality/charm.
 
jett said:
What does it matter when the only time you see the characters up close are doing cut-scenes, and what we are discussing is model quality and nothing else?



ND's models shit on all of your examples. How's that for a bold claim.
Pretty bold because ND generally has high polygon budgets for their characters. I think Leon's character model in Resident Evil 4 is the most impressive in gaming because even today it looks good. Doesn't have normal mapping or other maps that are common this gen, the poly count or texture resolution and it still looks good.
 
charsace said:
Pretty bold because ND generally has high polygon budgets for their characters. I think Leon's character model in Resident Evil 4 is the most impressive in gaming because even today it looks good. Doesn't have normal mapping or other maps that are common this gen, the poly count or texture resolution and it still looks good.
Jett, just save your time.
 
Metroid-Squadron said:
It would be, if you would also consider everything the other games do. Can you? Probably not, due to the limited tech documentation we have on them ;)

We can tell some of these effects are missing or present without documentation. ^_^

The DF article doesn't really cover U3 techs in-depth to begin with.
 
jett said:
What does it matter when the only time you see the characters up close are doing cut-scenes, and what we are discussing is model quality and nothing else?

Christ, dude, I was only pointing it out because I thought we were talking about real-time graphics in games. It's not like I said ND were bad modelers.
 
patsu said:
We can tell some of these effects are missing without documentation. ^_^
That's a silly argument. We can say the same about U3. For example, it lacks fully dynamic lighting (relies on lightmaps for indirect lighting) so [obviously :p] it's inferior to RDR, AC2, etc...
 
cjtiger300 said:
Jett, just save your time. Haters gonna hate.
How am I hating? Because I think Naughty Dog is one of the best instead of the best? So if I don't bow down to them and worship only them I'm a hater?

Your assertion is hilarious.
 
Metroid-Squadron said:
That's a silly argument. We can say the same about U3. For example, it lacks fully dynamic lighting (relies on lightmaps for indirect lighting) so [obviously :p] it's inferior to RDR, AC2, etc...

Except that I'm not singling out one point. Like I said citing something in isolation won't help. You have to look at what they did in full scope. ^_^

<3 the volumetric lighting in U3 !
 
charsace said:
How am I hating? Because I think Naughty Dog is one of the best instead of the best? So if I don't bow down to them and worship only them I'm a hater?

Your assertion is hilarious.
Edited my post before your reply. No biggie, ours opinions differ.
 
kokujin said:
Nope, still too plastic like.They need better mapping on the faces like crysis.

They do not look at all like plastic. They are not 100% photorealistic to be sure but neither are they plastic looking.

Besides, faces in Crysis 2 look like total ass so what the hell Crytek? you had great faces and then you made them suck, not cool dude, not cool.
 
patsu said:
Except that I'm not singling out one point. Like I said citing something in isolation won't help. You have to look at what they did in the full scope. ^_^
Exactly. Are you looking at what the other games do in the full scope? Without a fully detailed description on what U3 and the other games do you can't objectively call one better than another ;)
 
patsu said:
That's just a general design constraint, but it doesn't stop ND from adding volumetric lighting @ 720p, integrated physics system for the entire level on simulated waves (this is beyond linear moving train in U2), seamless switches between gameplay and cinematic views while streaming animation from BD without HDD install, overall great lighting, character model with dynamic animation and improved eye animation, etc., etc., etc.

All this in PS3's limited split pool memory, and so-called slow BR drive.

This is a minor nitpick but they're precaching to HDD, not streaming directly off BD.

Their tech isn't really that far off everyone else's as far as I can tell. They're still doing the baked lightmap/probe hybrid stuff that everyone's been doing this generation. Maybe their stuff is better optimized than most, but for the most part they just utilize their tech very very well.

And FWIW BR drive *is* slow compared to DVD, it's objective fact. And split memory is a much bigger problem for cross platform titles.
 
BigJiantRobut said:
Cool? It's still hardly "revolutionary". It's incredibly impressive technically, but ultimately it's a case of Naughty Dog doing something well, not doing something new.

Also, define dynamic in this case. The train is moving through an endlessly looping set of terrain that changes when you make enough progress, from what I recall.

I don't love Uncharted 2 like many here. I think it was a fun game but not really my style. That said I do think it was revolutionary in some ways, most notably that you were actually in control during many of the coolest, craziest sequences in the game. Most games turn those moments into cinemas or, worse, QTEs. It give Naughty Dog a lot of credit for actually building the tech needed to keep those in gameplay, make it seamless, and make it fun.
 
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