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[Alex11]

Yotei is obviously more stylized, whereas Shadows is more realistic. Yotei is probably more pleasing to the eyes, it's clearly made so that every wide shot of landscape looks beautiful and artistic. It does this by blowing up colors, light, contrast and yeah, it looks gorgeous.
But Shadows can be artistic as well, just in a different way, much like real life, you know where not everywhere you look has the same pleasing appearence.






In Shadows every boring corner or interior is made to look realistic, so I don't know if anyone can exactly say which one is better than the other just based on preferred artistic style.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Well Yotei is at least a lot better looking than I thought it was going to be leading up to launch. There are 3 glaring flaws though that really is such a shame they didn't improve- geometry/detail of rock formations, water, and animations!

Still, i see definite improvement to facial models, draw distance and lighting. Also, this game is finally a great ps5 pro game in that 60 fps RT mode.

The RTGi definitely isn't as impactful like AC Shadows but it helps and is noticeable in certain scenes. Home interiors look a lot better than Tsushima and it seems like the gamma issue is fixed....i can actually see indoors now!

I blame Sony not giving them morw budget for the animations being so last gen still.

I was sure, based on the horrible trailers, that this game was going to be almost identical in fidelity to Tsushima directors cut so I'm thrilled to be wrong. This would've been the most diaappointing month in gaming history for me had this game turned out the way I feared....mgs delta on ps5 pro is rough, silent hill f has the pssr shimmering issues real bad, borderlands 4 is a total disappointment not getting any Pro support and feeling like an unpolished piece of crap, dying light the beast on Pro was a letdown and Cronos has no Pro support....thank GOD Yotei actually delivered for the most part a big win on Pro

That being said it still underperforms graphically compared to how I would've hoped a next gen sequel to Tsushima would. This to me is a similar category of improvement as Spiderman 2 and Death Stranding 2- the improvement is there but they could've done better. We're still waiting for that earth shattering next gen Sony game

 

[SlimySnake]

The problem is expectations sucker punch last gen were on first leaders on terms of graphics, infamous second son are amazing and ghost of tsushima were great as ps4 title, but this gen (until recently with wolverine) are let down from all sony first party studios, we expect sony first party studios to lead this gen in terms of graphics but we got dissapointed until last one or two year's in this gen life cycle, that's why we hate games like yoti because it's not what we expect in terms of graphics which is disappointing

Bingo. The fact that B and C tier devs from eastern europe, china, south korea and fucking Taiwan are outshining sony devs is insane. especially considering that the games cost the same, and first party studios have far higher budgets in general.

and its not just sony, nintendo has phoned in the launch games for the switch 2 as well. cyberpunk, re9 and outlaws show just what this handheld is capable of.

 

[SlimySnake]

Yotei is obviously more stylized, whereas Shadows is more realistic. Yotei is probably more pleasing to the eyes, it's clearly made so that every wide shot of landscape looks beautiful and artistic. It does this by blowing up colors, light, contrast and yeah, it looks gorgeous.
But Shadows can be artistic as well, just in a different way, much like real life, you know where not everywhere you look has the same pleasing appearence.






In Shadows every boring corner or interior is made to look realistic, so I don't know if anyone can exactly say which one is better than the other just based on preferred artistic style.

I was going through the thread looking for some of my old screenshots of AC shadows and stumbled upon so so many of your AC shadows screenshots that show the artistry at display. Art is subjective but your screenshots in general showed off not just tech, but also stunning art direction. Something supposedly lacking in Shadows.

When people say AC Shadows is soulless, im convinced that they didnt actually play the game for more than a few hours. there are so many different areas in the game that are completely transformed depending on the weather and seasons, and i was constantly blown away by the art direction just as much as i was with the hair tech, or RTGI or wind physics. Ubisoft's artists get zero love on these boards. Avatar, Outlaws and AC Shadows have some of the best art direction in the business. John was praising the audio design of Ghosts like its something never been done before, and im like have you played Avatar? It literally uses ray tracing for audio because every fucking plant makes sounds, not just animals, birds and wind. it's far more immersive.

What sony studios do well is cinematic flair. Even in gameplay. But in terms of art direction, Ubisoft, Bloober, Sandfall interactive, Game Science, Remedy, Rockstar and CD Project are all up there with the best of sony studios. Artists are great everywhere. Sony doesnt have a monopoly on art direction.

 

[Zuzu]

Sorry if it's already been posted. Here's the top 20 graphics on PS5 as voted by viewers and readers of Push Square:



I don't know if the list is ranked, but here's the list:

 

[SlimySnake]

As I've said before I'm not a graphic person. But when a game gives me good graphics I don't turn down that either. In recent years with the addition of ingame photo mode or Playstation's screensshot function, you can really take good pictures. For most of the time with the screenshots, you can create an illusion of graphical consistency. I'm not indicating that every game is inconsistent with their graphics, most of them are consistent. But you can convince most people with good placed shots that that game have better graphics than the most.

I wanna share some of my shots from PS5 (PS4 bc included) games below. When I was taking them through the years I really manipulated the camera angle to take the best shots possible. Below pictures are spoiler free as possible. I put them in spoiler to avoid filling the page.

What I'm trying to say is simple: If you have good angle and light, every game has graphical fidelity. Some them have got it in reality, some of them got in illusion.

Ghost of Tsushima (PS5 Native)

Spoiler

God Of War Ragnarök (PS5 Native)

Spoiler

Horizon Forbidden West (PS5 Native)

Spoiler

Even with the PS4 games.

Infamous Second Son (PS4 BC)

Spoiler

Batman Arkham Knight (PS4 BC) (Mind the ass )

Spoiler

I can even take some good ones from PS3 era remastered one.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition (PS4 BC)

Spoiler

those ghosts shots are stunning. Im actually the opposite. i cant help but take bad screenshots. took several of ghosts back in the day because i was like this draw distance could be better. to their credit, they did fix the draw distance in the PC port.

I dont mind people cherrypicking best screenshots or doctoring photomode to hide inconsistencies. I love good graphics either way. But when it comes to the actual discussion, i'd rather people be honest about a game's shortcomings. Something fans just dont want to hear. The very first page on this thread has me praising TLOU2's visuals then being called out for being harsh on them a few weeks earlier. As if, pointing out a game's flaws is somehow forbidden. I thought Cyberpunk and HFW were the best looking PC and console games respectively for a good two years, but i routinely talked about their flaws and inconsistencies. Stuff they couldve improved or can improve for the sequel. For some reason, ghosts, death stranding and spiderman2 defenders just dont have the same attitude.

 

[SlimySnake]

Sorry if it's already been posted. Here's the top 20 graphics on PS5 as voted by viewers and readers of Push Square:



I don't know if the list is ranked, but here's the list:

astro bot is ranked higher than wukong, avatar, ac shadows etc.

this list was voted on by a comments section of one of the biggest ps fan sites, and it shows.

 

[March Climber]

those ghosts shots are stunning. Im actually the opposite. i cant help but take bad screenshots. took several of ghosts back in the day because i was like this draw distance could be better. to their credit, they did fix the draw distance in the PC port.

I dont mind people cherrypicking best screenshots or doctoring photomode to hide inconsistencies. I love good graphics either way. But when it comes to the actual discussion, i'd rather people be honest about a game's shortcomings. Something fans just dont want to hear. The very first page on this thread has me praising TLOU2's visuals then being called out for being harsh on them a few weeks earlier. As if, pointing out a game's flaws is somehow forbidden. I thought Cyberpunk and HFW were the best looking PC and console games respectively for a good two years, but i routinely talked about their flaws and inconsistencies. Stuff they couldve improved or can improve for the sequel. For some reason, ghosts, death stranding and spiderman2 defenders just dont have the same attitude.

I agree with you here. This thread (at it's best) always felt like it would judge games equally, in their most flattering angles and least flattering angles.

I understand this thread's endless chase to the next detail, because people here want even the least flattering angles to look great, rather than just the good, most artistic angles only like Sept Terrion Of Nothing is showcasing.

This is why I feel once RT/PT becomes more standardized across consoles and PC (which is what I'm hoping for either PS6 or PS7 gen), we will start to see less unflattering shots of games. Part of how I feel might just be because I have been shown a peek of the power of RT/PT and how it makes games appear much less 'flat' with lighting and I just want to see more of that on a regular basis.

Due to my peek into this future, I have been spoiled and now this current console generation feels... 'old' when I look at it. Not necessarily bad, but old. I had a similar feeling when seeing Crysis for the first time during the PS360 gen.

An example:

The graphical leap suddenly appeared in my mind when seeing all of the above. It's much different than last generation, where the upgrades just felt like slight bumps in textures, resolution, and reflections with really good post processing effects to bring things together. My brain simply can't go back anymore to what we have now in this gen and pretend like what's on the 'off' side of these pictures is the best...so now I wait. As of now I literally won't even touch certain games like Cyberpunk 2077 until I can play it looking like the above.

My bet is still that we will see some RT/PT upgrades on multiple titles once the PS6 generation is here, and CDPR will probably make Cyberpunk one of them. It will be an interesting thread and an interesting generation once this happens, because I'm curious to see what the new pedestal will become.

 

[Gonzito]

I can't believe how downright ugly Yotei can look at times. The vistas can be impressive under the right lighting, but once you start paying attention to the details, the game falls apart almost everywhere. The geometry is laughable. especially the rocks, which look cartoonishly fake.

Nighttime is even worse, with NPCs glowing like walking lamps. Many textures feel incredibly basic, and the open world itself comes across as artificial, full of blocked-off roads and invisible walls.

And the animations are so stiff during conversation cutscenes, it makes AC Shadows look like the Mona Lisa in comparison

Sucker Punch should be ashamed of themselves for not pushing their technology forward and releasing what is basically a ps4 game with a couple of upgrades

 

[Critical Hit]

Ubisoft's artists get zero love on these boards. Avatar, Outlaws and AC Shadows have some of the best art direction in the business.

I don't think so - even the players that doesn't play Ubi games anymore say that they're beautiful.

and im like have you played Avatar?

Avatar got DF's best graphics of the year.

 

[Xtib81]

I hope that horizon 3 will be next gen only to make guerilla take full advantage of PS6 unlike what they did with ps5, even HFW looks great as cross gen title

It's not happening. We'll get cross gen titles until 2031-32. The only next gen only games we might get are games nobody cares about like Ratchet and Returnal.

 

[sncvsrtoip]

It's not happening. We'll get cross gen titles until 2031-32. The only next gen only games we might get are games nobody cares about like Ratchet and Returnal.

It doesn't even matter now as in future Sony studios will have also do version for handheld and cheaper potato ps6 (not to mention proper ps6 looks like potato ;d) according to rumours.

 

[elbourreau]

Path tracing visuals are insane !

 

[Sept Terrion Of Nothing]

I agree with you here. This thread (at it's best) always felt like it would judge games equally, in their most flattering angles and least flattering angles.

I understand this thread's endless chase to the next detail, because people here want even the least flattering angles to look great, rather than just the good, most artistic angles only like Sept Terrion Of Nothing is showcasing.

This is why I feel once RT/PT becomes more standardized across consoles and PC (which is what I'm hoping for either PS6 or PS7 gen), we will start to see less unflattering shots of games. Part of how I feel might just be because I have been shown a peek of the power of RT/PT and how it makes games appear much less 'flat' with lighting and I just want to see more of that on a regular basis.

Due to my peek into this future, I have been spoiled and now this current console generation feels... 'old' when I look at it. Not necessarily bad, but old. I had a similar feeling when seeing Crysis for the first time during the PS360 gen.

An example:

Spoiler

The graphical leap suddenly appeared in my mind when seeing all of the above. It's much different than last generation, where the upgrades just felt like slight bumps in textures, resolution, and reflections with really good post processing effects to bring things together. My brain simply can't go back anymore to what we have now in this gen and pretend like what's on the 'off' side of these pictures is the best...so now I wait. As of now I literally won't even touch certain games like Cyberpunk 2077 until I can play it looking like the above.

My bet is still that we will see some RT/PT upgrades on multiple titles once the PS6 generation is here, and CDPR will probably make Cyberpunk one of them. It will be an interesting thread and an interesting generation once this happens, because I'm curious to see what the new pedestal will become.

Path tracing visuals are insane !

You're right. We've just peeked the potential of full RT and PT in previous games. I'm saying this because how many times the light reflected from surfaces? At maximum 3-4 times? Even with this limited reflections the scenes change most beautifully.

Let's just think a path tracing with the light reflected on surfaces at least 10 times. Or let's just say double amount of the current values (6-8 times). Think the scenes then. Probably lots of people will snub current RT and PT

The "graphical leap future" is ray tracing (and for me in addition to RT is near zero pop-ins/ups). Most of people snub ray tracing features right now because most of them didn't taste them fully or without performance cost. It is a classic human behaviour: If you cannot access something in full, you discredit/badmouth of it. When the naysayers will access it in full, they will be the biggest advocates of it.

If we toss these current naysayers aside now, you can clearly see that RT is and will be really the game changer. And like many said, it just showed it's potential. More mind blowing RT features are yet to come. All studios, especially Sony/Microsoft, should invest in this technology further.

 

[Critical Hit]

Probably lots of people will snub current RT and PT

I did that to the first version of PT in the Metro Exodus EE, because half of the picture was black (not enough bounces), but they fixed it later with approximation. CP2077 had this problem too, but you could change this behavior with mods.
So, yeah, the current state is just a glimpse, in terms of both quality and performance. Mind blowing nevertheless.

 

[Trilobit]

It's not better than AC Shadows, it's not even on par, but the constant disparage I'm seeing towards Yotei in this thread is problematic & only creates extreme tension & echo-chamber like expectations around some games even though Yotei exceeds AC Shadows in many things but I guess they're not worth mentioning since AC Shadows looks better overall, which is a weird mentality, it's important to mention the many impressive things that Yotei does, that couldn't, in anyway, materialize on last-gen hardware.

What happened to recognizing games that are still amazing looking but not necessarily the best looking? It's what this thread has always been about or has always noted in the past, I wish we can go back to that, we can praise Yotei for the great things that it does while also criticizing it for its obvious graphical weaknesses next to its high-end contemporaries, I have criticized it multiple times but somehow it isn't enough for some.

 

[Myuni]

Yotei can look very shitty (like AC:S and every other game), but I can accept it:

Since I'm mostly interested in beautiful landscape vistas, Yotei serves me well. It's breathtaking at times, lost in photo mode again:

 

[archangelmorph]

This game is stunning.

The negativity is fucking retarded.

 

[Gonzito]

This game is stunning.

The negativity is fucking retarded.

Vistas are great. The problem is when you start looking more closely. NPCs for example are not up to today's standards, and the lighting sometimes it's just too basic, specially at night. The game has flaws and at the same time it looks great in some aspects. I don't think there is anything retarded when pointing out the weaknesses because this is a next gen game and in certain areas is just not there

 

[Bojji]

This game is stunning.

The negativity is fucking retarded.

So we can't be critical about graphics now? Every new game gets reviewed here, not just Yotei or Sony exclusives.

Slimy said something very smart in one of his posts:

Some people just dont know how to quantify next gen graphics.

And that's the reality, there is also fanboy agenda at play. GoY is a very pleasing looking game, good marriage of art and tech but in reality only current gen thing about it is RTGI (and PSSR).

But this doesn't mean it's a generation difference vs. GoT:

Pics by analog_future

 

[archangelmorph]

Vistas are great. The problem is when you start looking more closely. NPCs for example are not up to today's standards, and the lighting sometimes it's just too basic, specially at night. The game has flaws and at the same time it looks great in some aspects. I don't think there is anything retarded when pointing out the weaknesses because this is a next gen game and in certain areas is just not there

It's a current gen game.

It looks great. No worse than E33 in terms of visual inconsistency. No one's shitting all over that one. Equally Ninja Gaiden 4 looks really bad but it's all quiet on the Western front with that one.

Miss me with this agenda-laden faux BS criticism.

Half the people shitting on this game haven't even fucking played it yet.

 

[archangelmorph]

So we can't be critical about graphics now? Every new game gets reviewed here, not just Yotei or Sony exclusives.

I have no problem with genuine critique (especially in this thread).

It's the BS hyperbole arguments ("it looks the same as GoT"... "It looks awful"... "It's fucking atrocious"... blah blah <frothing mouth>) that I'm tired of reading and it's simply disingenuous and exhausting.

So I've resigned myself to be equally flippant and call out BS when I see it.

That's about it.

 

[BlownUpRich]

I thought I was clear, but eh no point

 

[BlownUpRich]

Yotei can look very shitty (like AC:S and every other game), but I can accept it:

Since I'm mostly interested in beautiful landscape vistas, Yotei serves me well. It's breathtaking at times, lost in photo mode again:

I agree, it can have very obvious weaknesses, but I really appreciate the stunning vistas & the vegetation fidelity alongside the stunning RTGI lighting (at times).

 

[RodriGames40]

Monthly reminder that artstyle isn't graphics. You can like how the game looks, but Yotei's underlying technology simply isn't up to snuff.

 

[BlownUpRich]

So we can't be critical about graphics now? Every new game gets reviewed here, not just Yotei or Sony exclusives.

Slimy said something very smart in one of his posts:



And that's the reality, there is also fanboy agenda at play. GoY is a very pleasing looking game, good marriage of art and tech but in reality only current gen thing about it is RTGI (and PSSR).

But this doesn't mean it's a generation difference vs. GoT:

Pics by analog_future

Define "generation difference" since it is a term that has seen massive changes & shaped new expectations around it, if you outlined some arbitrary/specific criteria, then it can only be fair for me to outline a couple more specific categories that separates a game like Tsushima VS its successor, Yotei.

 

[analog_future]

Yotei can look very shitty (like AC:S and every other game), but I can accept it:

Since I'm mostly interested in beautiful landscape vistas, Yotei serves me well. It's breathtaking at times, lost in photo mode again:

Most of these look fantastic. Definitely excited to play this when it comes to PC, uneven visuals or not.

 

[Bojji]

It's a current gen game.

It looks great. No worse than E33 in terms of visual inconsistency. No one's shitting all over that one. Equally Ninja Gaiden 4 looks really bad but it's all quiet on the Western front with that one.

Miss me with this agenda-laden faux BS criticism.

Half the people shitting on this game haven't even fucking played it yet.

You didn't read this thread very well. E33 got A LOT of criticism, most of it from our UE5 "hater" kevboard . And he was right about most of the stuff he pointed out.

Define "generation difference" since it is a term that has seen massive changes & shaped new expectations around it, if you outlined some arbitrary/specific criteria, then it can only be fair for me to outline a couple more specific categories that separates a game like Tsushima VS its successor, Yotei.

This is a generational difference vs. Ghost of Tsushima:

And ACS also has weaker elements that were criticized in this thread (like NPCs). Another example:

R&C 2016:

vs. Rift Apart: