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I've just realized how big of a jump graphically PS3 to PS4 was

oh, and for launch games

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Just a friendly reminder that gifs aren't really the most accurate means of graphics comparisons.

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What generally comes across loudest in them are the artistic qualities of a game.
 
Sony's first party really killed it in the visuals department because in the early gen they delivered gems from Killzone Shadow Fall, Infamous First Light, the Order 1886, Until Dawn, and Drive Club. I believe all these games also ran at a native 1080p.
 
We shouldn't forget resolution differences too. PS3 to PS4 (720p ===> 1080p) is the biggest resolution jump in console generations and those pixels use lots of power compared to last gen.
 
But they are marginal compared to the past. If they were non-existant I'm not sure how they could have sold the new consoles in the first place.
 
It's a huge jump because devs are basically creating any environment they want now.

We actually get real forests this gen! Remember how bad foliage was last gen, especially grass.

I just love watching the progression of tech and graphics, I always sit there and analyze all the special stuff devs put in the game and appreciate all the work that goes into asset creation.

Even something like Deus ex which isn't a graphical power house, I love looking at the architecture and all the little details of the world. And because it takes place in the future, i enjoy seeing the tech they create and make up for that world.

It's more than just prettier graphics, it's a more believable world.
 
Thought the same thing, since i replayed TloU just recently. I'm really content with todays visuals, replaying old games just confirmes how big the difference is
 
I thought it was complete bullshit when people were saying the jump wasn't that big when games like Killzone and Second Son were launch titles, just having them in 1080p was a massive difference.
 
The difference here is that you only realized it 3 years later.

From PS1/N64 to PS2/GC/XBOX though? You didn't need 3 years. Remember Rogue Leader 2? Yeah, that was a launch title.

4rth gen to 5th gen was a gap between 2D and 3D textured graphics. Another huge gap.

PS3 to PS4 was the smallest one. Diminishing returns is real.

Eh, I realized it with the first trailers of KZSF, Infamous SS, The Order, etc. Those games were so clearly a generation ahead of anything on PS3.
 
Just a friendly reminder that gifs aren't really the most accurate means of graphics comparisons.

pgr4zk9d.gif


What generally comes across loudest in them are the artistic qualities of a game.
Pretty sure that PGR gif is offscreen footage which is why it looks inaccurate to the game's visuals, not because it's a gif.
 
There's certainly a leap, it's just the smallest leap between generations imo.

I also don't feel we're seeing the same kind of leap between first and second gen PS4/XB1 games (Killzone, Infamous, Ryse, The Order, FH2, Driveclub) and the current crop like we did on PS3/360. Hopefully Pro / Scorpio will allow that to change.
 
Yea, UC4 really was an eye opener. When its running in 1440p and HDR, I don't think there's a single other game that can touch it.

I thought uc4 was the best looking game id ever seen until I started playing Rise of the Tomb Raider on PC last night on max settings. Holy crap, tomb raider is my new standard. Once they bring out the hdr update I think it will be king for me.
 
To me, the big difference is in terms of density and assets variety, it feels like it is the generation that developers can truly reach their artistic vision.

In terms of brutal graphical difference it isn't near to the PS2 -> PS3/X360 jump.
 
The leap was evident day one. 2K14 on PS3 vs PS4 was a quantum leap in visual fidelity and animation. Ryse and Killzone looked demonstronably better than PS3 titles. Stuff like DC and Uncharted 4 boggle the mind. Uncharted 4's animation, particularly facial animation, is unbelievably good. Just impossible to do on PS3.
 
It's the smallest leap between console generations by far, but it's still noticeable. Maybe it's because we're fast approaching uncanny valley, but I find myself caring less and less about graphical prowess.
 
Really? Can you give specific examples please?
Remember Me is an early example that was calling itself PBR. I say "calling itself" because PBR isn't really a switch that got flipped where none of the ideas behind it had existed before (or where it became totally thorough after people started using the term).

We shouldn't forget resolution differences too. PS3 to PS4 (720p ===> 1080p) is the biggest resolution jump in console generations
Proportion is what matters, and in that respect it's by far the smallest resolution jump in 3D console generations. 720p to 1080p is barely more than doubling. 480p to 720p was a tripling.

But the more interesting question is around how pixels are actually being sampled and resolved.
 
Depends on the game actually.
Dragons Dogma feels old while Dark Souls/Witcher 2 feel like game from this gen

And I can change playing my WiiU to the PC and it feels like a small step down and not jarring, unlike Wii vs PS3, which is huge.
 
Just a friendly reminder that gifs aren't really the most accurate means of graphics comparisons.

pgr4zk9d.gif


What generally comes across loudest in them are the artistic qualities of a game.

Have a video then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbhZUmk9f9k

These are baked reflections, right? Because they don't make any sense.

And honestly 1080p GTAV is not that far behind it. I actually think current gen GTAV is more impressive than SS.

Diminishing returns are very real.

We are talking about a PS3 vs PS4 difference, and if you compare PS3 GTAV and Infamous Second Son, well...

GTA-V-PS4-Screenshot-21.jpg
 
If you're comparing PS3 first year games vs PS4 first year games, then yeah the jump is pretty immense. But going from end gen PS3 to first year PS4, then it really isn't as impressive.
 
I remember my cuz coming over seeing nba2k14 on PS4 for the 1st time. He was like it don't look that much different than PS3. I laughed because I chalked it up as hating, being that he was still on PS3. Long story short. He apologized pretty quick and became a PS4 owner lol

NBA 2K showed me the leap off bat. So I never understood what some gamers were talking about.
 
Yes, this has become really clear to me recently as well.

This gen is a massive jump compared to last gen. Especially when remembering that almost all last gen games ran at 720p or less, with little-to-no anti-aliasing solution in place, and many games had irregular framerates.

It's a fucking gigantic difference.

People tend to remember last-gen games by the 1080P, post-processed bullshots that publishers provide, when in reality the actual gameplay looked much worse. This is what The Last of Us looked like in-game, and frequently at sub 30fps:

The-Last-of-Us.png

The image has been scaled to 1080p to properly compare to the next shot.

This is what Uncharted 4 looks like in-game, at a nearly locked 30fps:

Uncharted4-1.jpg


Diminishing returns? Psh.
 
Yeah, plenty of people jumped on the "diminishing returns" train.
I still feel diminishing returns is true, especially when comparing PS4 to Xbox one. The PS4 has like 40% better gpu, not very noticeable imo.

Comparing UC3 to UC4 yes there is a huge difference but I still feel it's smaller than going from sd to hd last gen.
 
Yes, this has become really clear to me recently as well.

This gen is a massive jump compared to last gen. Especially when remembering when almost all last gen games ran at 720P or less, with little-to-no anti-aliasing solution in place, and many games had irregular framerates.

It's a fucking gigantic difference.

People tend to remember last-gen games by the 1080P, post-processed bullshots that publishers provide. This is what The Last of Us looked like in-game, and frequently at sub 30fps:

The-Last-of-Us.png

The image has been scaled to 1080p to properly compare to the next shot.

This is what Uncharted 4 looks like in-game, at a nearly locked 30fps:

Uncharted4-1.jpg


Diminishing returns? Psh.

TLOU2 with uc4 level visuals is gunna be glorious.
 
The only thing that's disappointed me this generation has been that even a locked 30fps/1080p seems to be a struggle for a lot of developers.

However, I think that's always going to be there as long as we have consoles as developers will always need to trade between visual quality versus performance. But hell, if the trade off for the visuals that ND push out in UC4 is a few dropped frames here and there then that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make!
 
Pretty sure that PGR gif is offscreen footage which is why it looks inaccurate to the game's visuals, not because it's a gif.

Ok, fine. :P

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Well, I personally don't require one, as I own Shadowfall, and so know exactly how it looks on the console.

Even via YouTube video though, the perceived graphics are notably less convincing than a gif makes it appear, as suddenly you're able to notice areas of lower detail, aliasing, etc. In a gif your mind starts filling in the blanks, and usually opts for a very flattering interpretation of the things you can't make it clearly.

Diminishing returns? Psh.

"Diminishing returns" doesn't imply something doesn't look notably better (I can't believe we're still seeing it treated as such). Go compare that TLOU PS3 shot, to any comparable game on the PS2. Remember to apply to same scaling too.
 
This is why the visuals in Persona 5 are... kind of a disappointment to me. I wish so badly that this game wasn't developed from the ground up for PS3. You can definitely tell in a lot of the textures, which are muddy and ugly up close. Textures on really mundane objects / signage / posters / food stuff is something Persona 4 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions did so well, I was hoping P5 would really take that to the next level. It's still pretty good, but it's not amazing like it should have been.
 
At the beginning of the gen the concerns were motivated because of cross gen titles.
When you looked at games like Dragon's Age Inquisition, Destiny, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, the Watch Dogs downgrade story plus tons of remasters everywhere, there was clearly a motivated sense that the jump was not big enough.
There were a few standouts like Killzone or Ryse but they seemed exceptions.
Then things started to change with games like Assassin's Creed Unity (besides the initial issues that were patched), The Order 1886, The Witcher 3, MGSV, Uncharted 4, FFXV and more titles. And seems like the best is yet to come with games like Horizon, Spiderman, God of War, The Last of Us 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Beyond coming out in the future.

And btw yes when I went back to TLOU remastered to try HDR and the higher res on the Pro I was shocked for how poly it looked with tons of ugly textures and overall flat lighting compared to Uncharted 4. And it was the remaster...not even the original PS3 version at 720p 30fps.
 
Ok, fine. :P

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Well, I personally don't require one, as I own Shadowfall, and so know exactly how it looks on the console.

Even via YouTube video though, the perceived graphics are notably less convincing than a gif makes it appear, as suddenly you're able to notice areas of lower detail, aliasing, etc. In a gif your mind starts filling in the blanks, and usually opts for a very flattering interpretation of the things you can't make it clearly.

Here's a HD video of PGR4, not cherrypicked gifs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-q4gvY5WpM

It does look good, but the nearest closest thing for a driving game launch title, Forza 4 far eclipse it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLMAvMZlCMY
 
This is why the visuals in Persona 5 are... kind of a disappointment to me. I wish so badly that this game wasn't developed from the ground up for PS3. You can definitely tell in a lot of the textures, which are muddy and ugly up close. Textures on really mundane objects / signage / posters / food stuff is something Persona 4 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions did so well, I was hoping P5 would really take that to the next level. It's still pretty good, but it's not amazing like it should have been.

But on the bright side Persona 5 is going to age better than Uncharted 4. Highly stylised graphics always age better than high fidelity ones.
 
TLOU was never that good looking, UC3 bested it two years earlier. Clear sacrifices were made to have bigger playable areas.

Anyway, no matter how you want to put it, this generational jump is still the smallest one we've seen yet.
 
Here's a HD video of PGR4, not cherrypicked gifs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-q4gvY5WpM

It does look good, but the nearest closest thing for a driving game launch title, Forza 4 far eclipse it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLMAvMZlCMY

Again, these are two games I own, and in this case have played both fairly recently. I certainly wouldn't say that Forza 4 looks better than PGR4 from a graphical standpoint. Especially not when factoring the weather (and nightime) effects that FM4 lacked entirely. Of course, as FM4 is constant locked 60fps vs PGR4's fluctuating 30fps, I'm willing to say that FM4 is the more impressive game all considered.

However... how are you going to call the 3rd Forza on the platform the "closest thing for a driving game launch title"? Forza Motorsport 2 was the first on the platform, and that looked so much worse than even PGR3 (which was at launch) that it's not even funny.

Anyway, my point wasn't to argue that PGR4 looks anywhere near as good as KZ:SF. It was merely to state that gifs make many games look far better than they do in actual gameplay.

EDIT: Wait... were we supposed to be discussing Need for Speed Rivals here? If so, that actually exists on last gen consoles... looking not too shabby by comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbtigNvJATY
 
This gen has certainly impressed, but hot damn... PS1 to PS2 was probably the most impressive to me.
I remember playing Tekken Tag and Madden '01 on launch day and my brain was melting. Then Silent Hill 2, MGS2, Devil May Cry, and FFX (all from just a graphical standpoint) the next year... it was amazing.
 
"Diminishing returns" doesn't imply something doesn't look notably better (I can't believe we're still seeing it treated as such). Go compare that TLOU PS3 shot, to any comparable game on the PS2. Remember to apply to same scaling too.

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The-Last-of-Us.png



Uncharted4-1.jpg


Seems like a pretty linear progression to me.
 
Heh, people trying to post screenshots like "look at this incredible difference!" and it's so obvious that both games are way closer to each other than every difference from past generations.

To the point where lesser PS4 screenshots still look worse than better PS3 screenshots.

Even "bad" TLOU above is seriously not far off from Uncharted.
 
I believe we've reached the spot where simple captures or even gifs aren't enough to show the difference. When you're actually playing it becomes much evident. The difference is huge.
 
I actually disagree, I've been jumping between the highest of the high end PC titles to launch 360 titles for the past few months and it all looks staggeringly good to me. Maybe that's just be being easily impressed, but I'm basically looking at every game and being gobsmacked. But the consequence of this is that I'm roughly as impressed by Uncharted 4 as I am by, say, the Gears of War games on 360.

I guess the variance between levels of how impressed I am has gone down significantly. It's now all roughly equally impressive to me, with degrees of surprise and interest in the technology. Art styles have colaesced and we are in a period where even going a decade back, the visual style isn't hampered by technology and basically anything is possible. (Minus performance concerns on the old consoles of course.)

I expected the purchase of the high end PC to make me more of a graphics snob but actually I find myself thinking it all looks incredibly good.
 
The improvements are far from marginal. This comes into play especially when you are playing the game and not looking at static screenshots. Shaders, lighting, animation, etc. The jump has been just as large as from previous generations. I can make any generation not look like that large of a jump. I can post Resistance 1 screenshots and compare it to God of War 2. It took the PS3 time to really start coming on graphically, especially due to it's complexity.
 
The Last of Us was never the best looking game on the PS3 though. It was very ugly, though Neil said it was ugly by design. The remaster looks great though.
Nice to know. I've wondered why I never thought it looked all that. First time I saw it I thought it was a PS2 remaster or something like that, then folks started raving about the graphics.

The characters and animations are good though.
 
Image Quality is a big part of it I think. I know people want higher constant FPS for games but IQ goes a huge way as well to making a good game look great.
 
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The-Last-of-Us.png



Uncharted4-1.jpg


Seems like a pretty linear progression to me.

Really?

I guess we'll just have to disagree then... because that FFXII image is so lacking in clarity, that I'm struggling to make out what much of it is supposed to be. I couldn't tell you what material is supposed to be depicted by most of that scene. That may be partially down to the scene being complete fantasy though... which I imagine is a result of their not really being any convincing real-world comparisons you'd be comfortable placing here.

In both the latter two, there's sufficient detail for everything in the scene to reasonably resemble what would be their real-life counterpart, which then leaves less room for improvement between them
 
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