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[CGNoire]

Then post another open World Kart racer with 24 players that looks as good as Kart World does at 1440p/60fps. I'll wait

A title being Open World isnt a Flex of graphical power its a flex of Streaming Tech and Budget. 24 Players is worth mentioning but its also has been 2 Generations so Im still not Impressed. It at the very least should be using More Sophisticated Shaders. I not convinced there really pushing the system at all.

The same goes for DK. Its not like we haven't had voxel based destruction of large environments before. This system has 12 GB of memory for heavens sake. That should be more than enough to do far better with these titles.

 

[Msamy]

How much do you think this improved from destiny 2 last version in terms of graphics only?

 

[Myuni]

How much do you think this improved from destiny 2 last version in terms of graphics only?

Almost 8 years after Destiny 2, we get this!?

 

[BlownUpRich]

MKW is a big upgrade from MK8D, especially the characters' models.

With this level of graphical fidelity, we can see that Wario's butt is sexier than Aloy's.

Not only that, lighting is better, there are more dynamic objects now that cast shadows, much denser maps/races, it being open-world, much more expressive animations, busier world overall, more stuff on screen.

Like this small snippet they've shown felt like a quite good leap over MK8, the world is brimming with life, sure, it's not RDR 2 or Cyberpunk 2077, but it's still a good deal over MK8 AND runs at 1440p 60fps.

(I can't make GIFs so I had to take a screenshot of it, could someone make a GIF off this snippet?)

 

[SlimySnake]

You dont from what ive heard from my friends. The working culture is crazy toxic, its very expensive and relationships are hell. Enchanting place to visit for sure though, Its high on my bingo list.

Ghosts certainly looks to be more striking and its draw distance and distant detail lod are more impressive but from what I've seen its textures and granular detail is sadly lacking again like the first game. On that note close range granular detail and textures are also something that seem somewhat lacking in shadows. The overall package is very nice in shadows but its certainly not displaying nanite level granular detail and texture quality.

Yeah, i remember reading some articles like 10 years ago that even their women dont want to get married or start a family, they are all burned out and the society is on the verge of collapse. beautiful place though. I want to visit Kyoto, but not for Nintendo.

As for AC shadows and nanite caliber detail, i think its almost up there. the rocks arent as detailed, but the shrines, pots and pans, and other wooden objects like planks are up there with UE5's megascans. I think it's just the fact that its an open world game. there is only so much you can do with 12.5gb of vram on the base ps5. im glad they didnt push it too high like some other vram starved games on pc. even UE5 only has one or two true open world games. Avowed and stalker, and i think ac shadows assets holds up well compared to both games. Wukong has an edge because its mostly a linear game. the final open world level doesnt hold up as well but they do let you fly really fast in it so maybe thats why.

i will do a comparison between avowed and ac shadows virtualized geometry, but avowed also uses it for foliage so i will limit it to buildings, rocks and other objects.

 

[SlimySnake]

How much do you think this improved from destiny 2 last version in terms of graphics only?

Absolute garbage. 8 years and this is what they come up with. Creatively bankrupt. technically challenged. Just shut the company down. And write off the $3.5 billion.

 

[H . R . 2]

Decent-looking survival game from the studio behind Frostpunk1,2 and This War of Mine
developed on UE5
kind of looks visually like DS2

 

[Msamy]

Absolute garbage. 8 years and this is what they come up with. Creatively bankrupt. technically challenged. Just shut the company down. And write off the $3.5 billion.

I didn't play destiny 2 so I ask because I think that marathon graphics is even worse than some ps4 games, sony closes London studio which build new engine from scratch for ps5 then buying bungie for 3 - 4 million for this bull

 

[NomenNescio]

Yeah, i remember reading some articles like 10 years ago that even their women dont want to get married or start a family, they are all burned out and the society is on the verge of collapse. beautiful place though. I want to visit Kyoto, but not for Nintendo.

As for AC shadows and nanite caliber detail, i think its almost up there. the rocks arent as detailed, but the shrines, pots and pans, and other wooden objects like planks are up there with UE5's megascans. I think it's just the fact that its an open world game. there is only so much you can do with 12.5gb of vram on the base ps5. im glad they didnt push it too high like some other vram starved games on pc. even UE5 only has one or two true open world games. Avowed and stalker, and i think ac shadows assets holds up well compared to both games. Wukong has an edge because its mostly a linear game. the final open world level doesnt hold up as well but they do let you fly really fast in it so maybe thats why.

i will do a comparison between avowed and ac shadows virtualized geometry, but avowed also uses it for foliage so i will limit it to buildings, rocks and other objects.

On what settings are you playing? I saw some 3080 benchmarks on YT, and the card seems to struggle even at 1080p. It's insane because it was a high end card at the time of the PS5 release.

 

[Magik85]

How much do you think this improved from destiny 2 last version in terms of graphics only?

Improved?
That looks worse than Halo Reach...

 

[mrqs]

How much do you think this improved from destiny 2 last version in terms of graphics only?

Absolutely doesn't elevate the art-style. The art renders from the art director are all insane. This looks muddy.

Really hoped for a different feel.

Sucks that they're using the same terrible engine. This game can be the end of bungie.

 

[nkill20]

You look at Marathon's art style and you think it will be a graphic realistic feel like Mirror's Edge and the game is cel shaded outdated lighting instead. They knew they couldn't keep up with graphics so they made it that way, shameful.

 

[M1987]

How much do you think this improved from destiny 2 last version in terms of graphics only?

That looks fucking terrible,I doubt it lasts 6 months

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

I got banned from the List of PS5 Pro Enhanced thread....what the hell?

Apparently if enough people don't like you in a particular thread due to harsh criticism and complaining about something "they" don't want us complaining about we can get banned ...

The irony of it all as I own the system and have almost every game that has gotten Pro upgrades....gamers man

I wanted to post about the long anticipated Pro version of Indiana Jones which comes out on the 17th and finally had it's patch detailed ....apparently all it's getting is "native 4k" on Pro which I find disappointing. Instead of using PSSR as the system was intended and actually upgrading the settings to something more in line with the PC version they just up the res from an already high 1800p to 2160p.

Doesn't matter apparently that the Series X was already using lower than low PC settings and didn't have RT reflections, which would've and should've been the obvious enhancements to make .....unless they improved some settings and aren't telling us about them then I'm sadly just going to finish this game on Gamepass.

This isn't why I bought the Pro. Also announced was Forza Horizon 5 patch which my hope was to get the Quality mode found on SX but at 60 fps ....instead what we're getting is RT reflections added to car bodies which, after playing both Forza Motorsport and GT7, is the least noticeable form of RT for my eyes. It's indistinguishable from ssr as your driving.

There will be a performance mode too which, if they were really enhancing this game for Pro, it "should" have better settings than Series X but I'm predicting it will be identical. FYI FH5's Quality mode looked incredible but due to 30 fps the handling and responsiveness was inferior to the Performance mode, the handling felt totally different between modes due to that difference in responsiveness. The problem with that game always was Performance mode looked a generation below that amazing Quality mode.

So yay here we are again ...but this is the norm for Pro upgrades. They are 95% of the time not trying to actually give us a significant improvement for this console.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

That looks fucking terrible,I doubt it lasts 6 months

It looks so last gen! Look at the particle effects lol they're the same as Destiny 2s ...

I'm sure it'll be fun for what it is, the handling will be excellent, but I have no interest in extraction shooters. Sony wants their own Apex Legends or Fortnite so I get it but what a waste of Bungies talent

 

[yamaci17]

I got banned from the List of PS5 Pro Enhanced thread....what the hell?

Apparently if enough people don't like you in a particular thread due to harsh criticism and complaining about something "they" don't want us complaining about we can get banned ...

The irony of it all as I own the system and have almost every game that has gotten Pro upgrades....gamers man

I wanted to post about the long anticipated Pro version of Indiana Jones which comes out on the 17th and finally had it's patch detailed ....apparently all it's getting is "native 4k" on Pro which I find disappointing. Instead of using PSSR as the system was intended and actually upgrading the settings to something more in line with the PC version they just up the res from an already high 1800p to 2160p.

Doesn't matter apparently that the Series X was already using lower than low PC settings and didn't have RT reflections, which would've and should've been the obvious enhancements to make .....unless they improved some settings and aren't telling us about them then I'm sadly just going to finish this game on Gamepass.

This isn't why I bought the Pro. Also announced was Forza Horizon 5 patch which my hope was to get the Quality mode found on SX but at 60 fps ....instead what we're getting is RT reflections added to car bodies which, after playing both Forza Motorsport and GT7, is the least noticeable form of RT for my eyes. It's indistinguishable from ssr as your driving.

There will be a performance mode too which, if they were really enhancing this game for Pro, it "should" have better settings than Series X but I'm predicting it will be identical. FYI FH5's Quality mode looked incredible but due to 30 fps the handling and responsiveness was inferior to the Performance mode, the handling felt totally different between modes due to that difference in responsiveness. The problem with that game always was Performance mode looked a generation below that amazing Quality mode.

So yay here we are again ...but this is the norm for Pro upgrades. They are 95% of the time not trying to actually give us a significant improvement for this console.

I agree with you and I share your frustration

native 4k is pointless with dlss and pssr. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a native 4k mode either (let people waste pixels). but there should be a mode that runs at 4k pssr quality with increased visuals...

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Yeah u4 was exceptional looking for the times, too bad the game was a boring shitty paced piece of smelly ass.

I've played through it 4 or 5 times and the pacing is fine unless you were expecting lots of gunfight and action sequences. The sections with slower pacing allowed us to solve puzzles and soak in the gorgeous environments as well as have some nice banter and character development.

Love that game ...top 4 game from last gen with Witcher 3, bloodborne, and God of war. Imo anyway

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

I agree with you and I share your frustration

native 4k is pointless with dlss and pssr. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a native 4k mode either (let people waste pixels). but there should be a mode that runs at 4k pssr quality with increased visuals...

Exactly! Why can't these patches actually involve some options? And yes that would take extra work and development time but we as gamers deserve that after buying this system. Thats what Pro was for! Better performance and graphics...not these minimal little enhancements that fall far short of actually changing a games graphics in a noticeable way! It's like console gaming is doomed to forever be treated like a pleb device and developers know gamers are conditioned with that mindset on console and so don't even try.

 

[Bojji]

I got banned from the List of PS5 Pro Enhanced thread....what the hell?

Apparently if enough people don't like you in a particular thread due to harsh criticism and complaining about something "they" don't want us complaining about we can get banned ...

The irony of it all as I own the system and have almost every game that has gotten Pro upgrades....gamers man

I wanted to post about the long anticipated Pro version of Indiana Jones which comes out on the 17th and finally had it's patch detailed ....apparently all it's getting is "native 4k" on Pro which I find disappointing. Instead of using PSSR as the system was intended and actually upgrading the settings to something more in line with the PC version they just up the res from an already high 1800p to 2160p.

Doesn't matter apparently that the Series X was already using lower than low PC settings and didn't have RT reflections, which would've and should've been the obvious enhancements to make .....unless they improved some settings and aren't telling us about them then I'm sadly just going to finish this game on Gamepass.

This isn't why I bought the Pro. Also announced was Forza Horizon 5 patch which my hope was to get the Quality mode found on SX but at 60 fps ....instead what we're getting is RT reflections added to car bodies which, after playing both Forza Motorsport and GT7, is the least noticeable form of RT for my eyes. It's indistinguishable from ssr as your driving.

There will be a performance mode too which, if they were really enhancing this game for Pro, it "should" have better settings than Series X but I'm predicting it will be identical. FYI FH5's Quality mode looked incredible but due to 30 fps the handling and responsiveness was inferior to the Performance mode, the handling felt totally different between modes due to that difference in responsiveness. The problem with that game always was Performance mode looked a generation below that amazing Quality mode.

So yay here we are again ...but this is the norm for Pro upgrades. They are 95% of the time not trying to actually give us a significant improvement for this console.

Fully agree that Indiana should have used higher rt settings found on pc (not path tracing). Even keep 1800p res but increase quality of RTGI. Pro has much better RT performance than consoles from 2020.

 

[zeroluck]

Marathon looks like a dev build where the textures isn't finished so everything is just a single color.

 

[Darsxx82]

I don't know how many of you here have played or are playing South of Midnight... To me, it's a great visual surprise, often indistinguishable from a moving picture or animated film.

It doesn't do any technical wonders, but the whole package is very complete, with exceptional IQ, excellent HDR, 60fps and perfect lighting for the artistic look. Really a BEAUTIFULL game.
The artistic level and the lighting both indoors and outdoors have made me fall in love.


Here are some screenshots. Some hidden to avoid spoiler so as not to overload the page.

Spoiler

 

[SlimySnake]

Fully agree that Indiana should have used higher rt settings found on pc (not path tracing). Even keep 1800p res but increase quality of RTGI. Pro has much better RT performance than consoles from 2020.

My 3080 is even more powerful than the ps5 pro and didn't even have the path tracing option. Even the 12 gb 5070 can't run it at 4k dlss performance and has to drop to 1440p to reduce VRAM requirements. The game is poorly optimized and was never going to have path tracing on the pro even if it had more tflops.

Btw that xsx ray tracing being lower than pc low was a bug that was fixed after df reported on it. It has pc high rtgi.

Neither version has rt reflections which are limited to path tracing which itself is limited to like 4 pc gpus.

 

[analog_future]

I don't know how many of you here have played or are playing South of Midnight... To me, it's a great visual surprise, often indistinguishable from a moving picture or animated film.

It doesn't do any technical wonders, but the whole package is very complete, with exceptional IQ, excellent HDR, 60fps and perfect lighting for the artistic look. Really a BEAUTIFULL game.
The artistic level and the lighting both indoors and outdoors have made me fall in love.


Here are some screenshots. Some hidden to avoid spoiler so as not to overload the page.

Spoiler

Just finished my last of us part two replay. This one's up next for sure!

 

[ResetEraVetVIP]

I don't know how many of you here have played or are playing South of Midnight... To me, it's a great visual surprise, often indistinguishable from a moving picture or animated film.

It doesn't do any technical wonders, but the whole package is very complete, with exceptional IQ, excellent HDR, 60fps and perfect lighting for the artistic look. Really a BEAUTIFULL game.
The artistic level and the lighting both indoors and outdoors have made me fall in love.


Here are some screenshots. Some hidden to avoid spoiler so as not to overload the page.

Spoiler

South of Midnight is a Beautiful Game.

On the note of Marathon, I think that it should be way better graphically. The art style is great, I just think that the reveal trailer looks fidelity wise what the realtime gameplay should look like. A lot of these newer games still look last gen visually just in 4K.

 

[SlimySnake]

On what settings are you playing? I saw some 3080 benchmarks on YT, and the card seems to struggle even at 1080p. It's insane because it was a high end card at the time of the PS5 release.

Im maxing it out at 4k dlss quality, but have to settle for 30 fps. I tried hitting 60 fps but i just cant do it no matter how much i lower settings and dlss resolution. tried settling for a variable 40-50 fps using vrr but it was too jerky and it didnt make much sense lowering every setting to medium, so settled for a locked 30 fps with everything maxed out instead.

 

[SlimySnake]

So yay here we are again ...but this is the norm for Pro upgrades. They are 95% of the time not trying to actually give us a significant improvement for this console.

Why would you expect significant improvements when the leaks said 45% better gpu performance and even Cerny came out and said it will be 45% in the reveal. The rest is just PR talk, and frankly, anyone who saw that 45% figure shouldve ignored those Quality mode at 60 fps comments since they needed a minimum of 100% increase in GPU plus whatever is needed for the vram bandwidth and CPU bottlenecks that are in the current zen 2 CPUs. Both of which got minimal upgrades in the Pro.

You got RTGI at 60 fps in AC shadows which is pretty good actually seeing as how the performance mode on the base console didnt have it. You got RT reflections in the 30 fps mode which puts it on par with PC. Forza Horizon and Indiana Jones are effectively last gen games. Dont worry about them too much. RT reflections in racing games are useless i agree especially when they are limited to cars on cars.

I think looking at next gen games they have done a rather decent job of upgrading PSSR to being somewhat usable and a better alternative in motion to FSR2. You have Hardware Lumen in Silent Hill 2 which brings way better rtgi and reflections to the pro. Jedi Survivor also added rt to the 60 fps mode. KCD2 runs great. Just stop listening to what was clearly PR from Cerny, and look at the results, they are fine. I played all PS4 Pro games at 30 fps and had a blast. I suggest you do the same. I played Hellblade 2, Outlaws, SH2, Wukong and now AC shadows at 30 fps on my 3080 and its been fine. Space marine 2, KCD2, Dragon Age, and Indiana Jones are 60 fps but clearly not as visually impressive. You simply have to settle for 30 fps even on $850 nvidia GPUs. the pro is cheaper.

Point is, there are things that this console is doing right but you are only looking at the negatives, and that rubs people the wrong way. They took 6 months to ban you from the thread, and not even the forum so just be happy you got 6 months to complain about this. on era, you wouldve been perma'd a long time ago.

P.S HFW, Spiderman 2, tlou2, and Demon Souls had great upgrades and lined up with what Cerny said about quality mode at 60 fps. Id say wait for death stranding 2, ghost of tsushima 2, and other sony exclusives. hell, even i might get a pro for death stranding 2.

 

[SlimySnake]

I don't know how many of you here have played or are playing South of Midnight... To me, it's a great visual surprise, often indistinguishable from a moving picture or animated film.

It doesn't do any technical wonders, but the whole package is very complete, with exceptional IQ, excellent HDR, 60fps and perfect lighting for the artistic look. Really a BEAUTIFULL game.
The artistic level and the lighting both indoors and outdoors have made me fall in love.


Here are some screenshots. Some hidden to avoid spoiler so as not to overload the page.

Spoiler

Looks beautiful but i dislike every single level in the game that has that grey filter. i know its for story reasons where they make you remove the blight but i really dont want to play half the game with a grey filter. kena was also kinda like this and it completely turned me off of the game. never went back to it after a few hours.

 

[Jack Howitzer]

It's insane because it was a high end card at the time of the PS5 release.

Yeah when coming down to general rasterization gaming results 3080 is 2x good old gtx1080 from my testing,at the time of its release he was the high rank tough guy no doubt.But the thing is, gaming graphics is envolving all the time, the 'top gaming graphics showcase' we had in 2020-2022 is not the same as stuff from 2023 onwards,the actual upper limit behind the Ultra&Extreme parameters or whatever settings are being raised, same as comparing many old gen titles to current gens.It's like 10 years ago most ultra preset means texture resolution was 512*512,some goes to 1024*1024,then around 2020 many went to 2048*2048 as standard,after a while some top dogs raise the limit to 4096*4096 as for now,you can't seriously think a 8-12gb card can handle these things without compromises as it was 10 years ago. In 2018-2020 ultra means only half baked ray tracing reflections and shadows,then in 2020-2022 some implemented ray tracing gi and ao for the ultra preset,then 2023 onwards they said path tracing is the ultimate way to go,and tbh the jump in quality along the way is quite something no bullshit indeed.Same as they usually only limit ray tracing stuff to many linear walking simulators in the past, why?Because they couldn't find a way to fit proper ray tracing rendering in a very complex well-crafted open world, all of the hardwares were not capable of running these things in smoothing framerates even if they actually made it. Trust me people ain't willing to buying a 3090 just to play 4k pt gaming with then-totally-barebone dlss performance mode and suffering below 30fps experience in 2020, that's just suffering too much for the hardware and our eyes.
Don't get me wrong,the actual visual differences and optimizations issues are certainly not a small deal by any means, and whether they worth it or pointless is another story, each to their own we all have different taste and fetish and preferences,heck this is what this thread all about. But the high end hardware stuff are fading all the time, especially whenever there are some sort of generational huge jumps going on around the clock(4090 vs 3080,around 2x in rasterization) , that's always the way it is.
(Nvidia:You want the best visuals without compromising performance forever?Paying for our top end we can dlss the future through your eyes together ! What,you say can we dlss your wallet? Oops that's the toughest thing our engineers are trying to figure out as well! You see, whenever we insert the raw data--aka the dollars, into the machines for training, the whole lab and servers just straight up go to the
classic "Diddy Lame Simp Slick" blackout mode , and making our ceo guy despawns for no reason,the buglist is just way too long atm)

 

[Balducci30]

How much do you think this improved from destiny 2 last version in terms of graphics only?

This art style could be done so much better on current consoles. I don't understand what they're doing

 

[GymWolf]

I've played through it 4 or 5 times and the pacing is fine unless you were expecting lots of gunfight and action sequences. The sections with slower pacing allowed us to solve puzzles and soak in the gorgeous environments as well as have some nice banter and character development.

Love that game ...top 4 game from last gen with Witcher 3, bloodborne, and God of war. Imo anyway

Good for you, i hated almost everything except graphic, animations and combat, i managed to finish the game in 6 months because i bail out like 3 times...

 

[Darsxx82]

Looks beautiful but i dislike every single level in the game that has that grey filter. i know its for story reasons where they make you remove the blight but i really dont want to play half the game with a grey filter. kena was also kinda like this and it completely turned me off of the game. never went back to it after a few hours.

Well, I think you're referring to the moments where Hazel discovers memories from characters' pasts and when she escapes the evil that's chasing her?

Yes, the truth is that it breaks the thread of the visual (pun intended), they could have chosen another way to represent those moments. But it is very, very far from representing a large portion of the game and they usually have a short time in each chapter. Personally, I didn't find those moments tedious at all, but yes, I would have solved them with a different approach, rather than covering everything with a ghostly or X-ray filter.

 

[xxDeadlockxx]

I really don't know what Bungie's technical goal is with Marathon. I know that many times companies prioritize fluidity and a higher frame rate in a multiplayer game, especially in genres like shooters.

But the graphics look so incredibly outdated and subpar by the quality standards expected from a large company like Bungie in the year 2025.

I don't like the artistic design itself; I don't dislike the idea itself, but the vast majority of the designs chosen seem horrible and overly simplistic.

But regardless of the artistic design, without having the other game in front of me for comparison, I'd say that technically I find it worse than Destiny 2.

There's no GI, the vegetation is worthy of the X360/PS3 generation, the particle system is also outdated... it just doesn't really stand out at all. I don't know what they're waiting for to modernize the engine even without releasing a new version. It looks so outdated graphically, but they have plenty of room to add more modern technology and still maintain 60 fps.

 

[Bojji]

My 3080 is even more powerful than the ps5 pro and didn't even have the path tracing option. Even the 12 gb 5070 can't run it at 4k dlss performance and has to drop to 1440p to reduce VRAM requirements. The game is poorly optimized and was never going to have path tracing on the pro even if it had more tflops.

Btw that xsx ray tracing being lower than pc low was a bug that was fixed after df reported on it. It has pc high rtgi.

Neither version has rt reflections which are limited to path tracing which itself is limited to like 4 pc gpus.

I didn't know they fixed it, good stuff.

So there is no room for improvement really, anything PT in this game is ultra expensive. What i don't like in AW2 or specially IJ is that they jump from light RT to ultra heavy with nothing in between. We have only console quality RTGI ---- nothing ----- PT, while they could have used standard RT shadows as well for example, for sure it would much cheaper than PT. AW2 don't have normal RT reflections that control used and also requires PT for this stuff...

CP shows that you can have most effects done in normal RT as well as in PT. We need MORE options and not just turn on/off stuff.

 

[Lethal01]

Not only that, lighting is better, there are more dynamic objects now that cast shadows, much denser maps/races, it being open-world, much more expressive animations, busier world overall, more stuff on screen.

Like this small snippet they've shown felt like a quite good leap over MK8, the world is brimming with life, sure, it's not RDR 2 or Cyberpunk 2077, but it's still a good deal over MK8 AND runs at 1440p 60fps.

(I can't make GIFs so I had to take a screenshot of it, could someone make a GIF off this snippet?)

Also gotta consider that it's gonna have 4 player spit screen in the openworld, therer's gotta be some limitations on that, otherwise, verry impessive

 

[SlimySnake]

Well, I think you're referring to the moments where Hazel discovers memories from characters' pasts and when she escapes the evil that's chasing her?

Yes, the truth is that it breaks the thread of the visual (pun intended), they could have chosen another way to represent those moments. But it is very, very far from representing a large portion of the game and they usually have a short time in each chapter. Personally, I didn't find those moments tedious at all, but yes, I would have solved them with a different approach, rather than covering everything with a ghostly or X-ray filter.

Its in the first gameplay review of the game. every boss you fight takes place in these grey areas that only become green after you beat them. the reviews i watched were mostly set in these dark and dull areas.

i do plan to give it a shot when i sub for Expedition 33 in a couple of weeks. its definitely a stunner.

 

[SlimySnake]

I've played through it 4 or 5 times and the pacing is fine unless you were expecting lots of gunfight and action sequences. The sections with slower pacing allowed us to solve puzzles and soak in the gorgeous environments as well as have some nice banter and character development.

Love that game ...top 4 game from last gen with Witcher 3, bloodborne, and God of war. Imo anyway

why wouldnt we? its an uncharted game, not a slow walking simulator.

the game was poor paced based on 3-4 levels which featured zero gameplay or puzzles. The first one comes at the very start when you play as young drake. it goes on forever. zero puzzles. its a 45 minute level.
the second one is that awful prison level that goes on and on with constant walking levels.

the third one comes after the big chase scene. you explore the islands on a boat. but again, there is no exploration. you go to two areas that trigger cutscenes and thats it. everything else is salad dressing because unlike tlou, there is nothing you get for exploration aside from those treasures for the platinum.

the last one comes at the worst time. you just find out your own brother betrayed you and you get yet another flashback with young drake where you explore a mansion for 45 fucking minutes with zero puzzles simply pressing triangle to cue a dialogue sequence. its the worst kind of level because you cant rush it or skip it.

then there are other levels like when you are at work, or at home with elena, or chapter 21 which is simply running and jumping but thankfully its not 45 minutes like the other three. the game is a pacing disaster just like tlou2. at least tlou2's flashbacks and walking levels are only 10 minutes long.

Lost Legacy is much better paced. its open world level actually has puzzles to solve. not triangle prompts to hit. and has literally one walking section at the very start of the game, and its over in ten minutes. the rest is pure gameplay.

 

[RavionUHD]

Some KCD2 screenshots on PC in 4K Ultra DLDSR/DLSS4 with Reshade and RenoDX HDR mod:

 

[Darsxx82]

Its in the first gameplay review of the game. every boss you fight takes place in these grey areas that only become green after you beat them. the reviews i watched were mostly set in these dark and dull areas.

i do plan to give it a shot when i sub for Expedition 33 in a couple of weeks. its definitely a stunner.

Well, then those reviews focused too much on fights that aren't a significant part of the game.

The good news for you might be that there's an option to skip the normal fights and only fight against the main bosses, where that "filter" doesn't apply. You might be interested in playing it that way and focus on the story, characters, platforms, exploration/ and (because this is what this thread is about ) enjoy the work on graphic and visual art .

 

[RodriGames40]

Marathon is dreadful, holy hell. This month wasn't kind to us graphic enthusiasts, for sure...

 

[SlimySnake]

Some KCD2 screenshots on PC in 4K Ultra DLDSR/DLSS4 with Reshade and RenoDX HDR mod:

Good god, i need to get back to this game.

 

[Balducci30]

Some KCD2 screenshots on PC in 4K Ultra DLDSR/DLSS4 with Reshade and RenoDX HDR mod:

GOTY, and surprisingly good looking at points. Why couldn't Bethesda do this?

 

[mrqs]

I don't know how many of you here have played or are playing South of Midnight... To me, it's a great visual surprise, often indistinguishable from a moving picture or animated film.

It doesn't do any technical wonders, but the whole package is very complete, with exceptional IQ, excellent HDR, 60fps and perfect lighting for the artistic look. Really a BEAUTIFULL game.
The artistic level and the lighting both indoors and outdoors have made me fall in love.


Here are some screenshots. Some hidden to avoid spoiler so as not to overload the page.

Spoiler

Can look alright with these images, but actually playing the game makes it look pretty bad, specially on cutscenes.

The 3d modeling of everything looks almost indie-like, massive doors with no proper scale etc, and all the narrative and gameplay style feels like something from 2009.

 

[SlimySnake]

Marathon is dreadful, holy hell. This month wasn't kind to us graphic enthusiasts, for sure...

Expedition 33.

GOTY, and surprisingly good looking at points. Why couldn't Bethesda do this?

bethesda is about to release the oblivion remake any day now. Maybe by mid summer. Its on ue5 too. We will find out what they can do soon enough.

That said, Bethesda storytelling and quest designs will never be as good as kcd2 so I'm just talking about graphics.

 

[GymWolf]

Marathon look extremely weak.

 

[Darsxx82]

Can look alright with these images, but actually playing the game makes it look pretty bad, specially on cutscenes.

The 3d modeling of everything looks almost indie-like, massive doors with no proper scale etc, and all the narrative and gameplay style feels like something from 2009.

??? It almost feels like an animated film!!

I think your feelings are more related to not liking the art.
In fact it's only while playing that you can appreciate some of the details and graphic effects that accompany the graphics (volumetric fog, color gradients, lighting changes, etc.). It's also sad not to be able to reproduce the game's magnificent HDR in screenshots.

Then, what you describe also has to do with the choice of artistic style. The exaggerated elements and objects and exaggerated shapes fit with those of animated films and stories. The textures are part of this choice of artistic style, and at first glance they may seem "simple," but they are quite good and varied.

 

[nkill20]

Some KCD2 screenshots on PC in 4K Ultra DLDSR/DLSS4 with Reshade and RenoDX HDR mod:

theres a mod that gives the gi more bounces and it makes the game look even better maybe, still like the lighting in the city

 

[Toots]

What the hell

Someone at nintendo HQ likes to get fish blowjobs

Spoiler

 

[mrqs]

??? It almost feels like an animated film!!

I think your feelings are more related to not liking the art.
In fact it's only while playing that you can appreciate some of the details and graphic effects that accompany the graphics (volumetric fog, color gradients, lighting changes, etc.). It's also sad not to be able to reproduce the game's magnificent HDR in screenshots.

Then, what you describe also has to do with the choice of artistic style. The exaggerated elements and objects and exaggerated shapes fit with those of animated films and stories. The textures are part of this choice of artistic style, and at first glance they may seem "simple," but they are quite good and varied.

One thing is exaggerated art style. South of Midnight feels different. It looks like they didn't create the models with a proper scale. The grandma character holds something with a candle at the start of the game, and it looks atrocious. It's enormous and completely out of place.

Also, doors are massive for no reason, and other objects are at a proper scale. The fences at the start of the game are extremely thick and make the character look tiny by comparison.

Psychonauts 2 has exaggerated proportions, but everything makes sense and fits with the scale. This one is just sloppy.

The lighting is good, though. I agree with you. It looks good with HDR, etc. But the game design is insanely dumb and generic.

Don't get me wrong, when the game was revealed I loved the art style, and it's good. Just underbaked and not built in a way that it works.

Look at the size of this window.

Look at the size of this fence compared to a semi-adult human.

Look at the size of this lamp and how she's holding it.

And this isn't for everything. This is just at some odd places where the character doesn't fit the proportions. I can understand exaggerated art styles, but this doesn't seem like it. Looks like an indie developer not making stuff with a clear vision from the start and not having time to adjust things later on.

Here, for example, it looks fine.

 

[Vindicator]

Marathon look extremely weak.

Someone on reddit suggested that Decima would be a better fit for Marathon, a full SP game with that artstyle could have been dope.

 

[Darsxx82]

One thing is exaggerated art style. South of Midnight feels different. It looks like they didn't create the models with a proper scale. The grandma character holds something with a candle at the start of the game, and it looks atrocious. It's enormous and completely out of place.

Also, doors are massive for no reason, and other objects are at a proper scale. The fences at the start of the game are extremely thick and make the character look tiny by comparison.

Psychonauts 2 has exaggerated proportions, but everything makes sense and fits with the scale. This one is just sloppy.

The lighting is good, though. I agree with you. It looks good with HDR, etc. But the game design is insanely dumb and generic.

Don't get me wrong, when the game was revealed I loved the art style, and it's good. Just underbaked and not built in a way that it works.

Look at the size of this window.

Look at the size of this fence compared to a semi-adult human.

Look at the size of this lamp and how she's holding it.

And this isn't for everything. This is just at some odd places where the character doesn't fit the proportions. I can understand exaggerated art styles, but this doesn't seem like it. Looks like an indie developer not making stuff with a clear vision from the start and not having time to adjust things later on.

Here, for example, it looks fine.

Everything you describe is an artistic decision.

I suppose everyone has their own tastes, and we don't agree. Personally, I'm in love with the artistic finish, complemented by the lighting, even though I had my doubts before playing it. Even the use of stop motion seems like a perfect fit.

As I said, I suppose it's a matter of taste, and it's normal to disagree, but for me, it's one of the most beautiful games of this generation, with optimization (60fps) and IQ to top your hat.