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Alan Wake 2 is the best looking game released this year?
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Alan Wake 2 looks like offline renders at times. put it in photo mode and its gurantee'd. Its the most next gen game we have had this entire generation, i think.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Seems like AW2 lacks subsurface scattering hence why Saga's face is a tad waxy looking. Both models are great but I'll have to agree that Amicia's is the better one in this comparison.I'm sorry but that looks like a wax model compared to Plague's:
JimmyRustler
Member
I would agree. Best looking game this year so far. I haven't and won't play Spiderman but given it's bigger scale I don't think it can possibly be more impressive.
Did the whole "Mansion" episode yesterday and it downright looked like CGI at times (Sarah's ingame facial animation).
Did the whole "Mansion" episode yesterday and it downright looked like CGI at times (Sarah's ingame facial animation).
GymWolf
Member
Some people think that skin rendering in aw2 is the best there is.Mortal Kombat 1, Callisto Protocol and Phantom Liberty are top 5.
Along with Alan Wake 2 which looks offline rendered at times.
Probably its biggest weakness is the skin shader, near everything else is top tier.
^The lighting and materials are so correct.
I don't like how waxy they look, especially the women.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
It's like... opinions are by definition subjective. Wild stuff right!?Reading throught this topic is fascinating, different people have complete different meaning of what good graphic, good characters etc.
Some opinions are so wild
Don’t know.. but darker skins react less to lighting than lighter skin tones .. how does Allan’s face look?
Thirty7ven
Banned
Yeah and its not even close. If this was a sony exclusive, all the people laughing would be screaming yes from the mountain top.
Is that supposed to be blowing anyone away?
This is a PS4 game.
When control came out some people also tried to make it seem like it was the best looking game ever and now it’s barely ever mentioned.
And I’m not even getting into animations where Alan Wake 2 often falters or visual artifacts from aggressive upscaling.
It looks really good but I’m sorry if not everybody is blown away like you are.
SenkiDala
Member
God I love this game it is my GOTY and this is the only game that makes me gives me a survival experience of this level since Silent Hill 2/3 (which I both played day one).
But OH GOD I'm tired of those underpowered consoles, the frame rate mode removes SO MANY details and isn't even that smooth (playing on PS5) and in "Quality" mode there're tons of aliasing and every movement is BLURRY AS FUCK. FFtype0 x1000.
And I'm not mad at Remedy, this is my favorite studio in the world, no problem, but the consoles that were supposed to deliver 60fps experience AT LEAST and for EVERY GAME and sometimes 120 aren't capable at all.
- Starfield at 1440p 30fps on XSX even though it isn't impressive at all technically.
- FFXVI on PS5 is barely playable and honestly it must have barely passed the quality checks, the game is at 720p on frame rate mode (again still VERY BAD frame rate and blurry AF) and in quality mode... even blurrier and runs at 25fps mostly. A FF game, in 2023, running at 25fps.
- Redfall looks like a low quality 360 game upscaled in FHD and runs at 30 fps, ok.
- Forespoken is unplayable so I didn't buy it (will get it on PC).
Seriously wtf ? Never seen such a technically limited generation, consoles can't run the game and they came out just 3 years ago.
Btw I'm playing on an LGC1 perfectly calibrated so the bad experience doesn't come from my TV.
But OH GOD I'm tired of those underpowered consoles, the frame rate mode removes SO MANY details and isn't even that smooth (playing on PS5) and in "Quality" mode there're tons of aliasing and every movement is BLURRY AS FUCK. FFtype0 x1000.
And I'm not mad at Remedy, this is my favorite studio in the world, no problem, but the consoles that were supposed to deliver 60fps experience AT LEAST and for EVERY GAME and sometimes 120 aren't capable at all.
- Starfield at 1440p 30fps on XSX even though it isn't impressive at all technically.
- FFXVI on PS5 is barely playable and honestly it must have barely passed the quality checks, the game is at 720p on frame rate mode (again still VERY BAD frame rate and blurry AF) and in quality mode... even blurrier and runs at 25fps mostly. A FF game, in 2023, running at 25fps.
- Redfall looks like a low quality 360 game upscaled in FHD and runs at 30 fps, ok.
- Forespoken is unplayable so I didn't buy it (will get it on PC).
Seriously wtf ? Never seen such a technically limited generation, consoles can't run the game and they came out just 3 years ago.
Btw I'm playing on an LGC1 perfectly calibrated so the bad experience doesn't come from my TV.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Couldn't find a good shot of Alan, but here's one with both FBI Agents. Casey's face model looks more plastic-y and even uncanny in comparison to Saga's, which again I think are a tad below in detail than the main characters in Plague Tale Requiem. Maybe they are using subsurface scattering, but it's more subtle due to the lighting conditions? Idk.
Senua
Member
GymWolf
Member
Best characters in the business alrightCouldn't find a good shot of Alan, but here's one with both FBI Agents. Casey's face model looks more plastic-y and even uncanny in comparison to Saga's, which again I think are a tad below in detail than the main characters in Plague Tale Requiem. Maybe they are using subsurface scattering, but it's more subtle due to the lighting conditions? Idk.
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intheinbetween
Member
For consoles hands down AW2 is the best looking game so far. On PC I would say Cyberpunk is ahead due to being an open world game, also AW2 has some serious issues on PC tho I expect Remedy to fix them in the coming patches.
ozz ex machina
Member
It's the best looking game I've ever played without a doubt.
I saw some clown saying spiderman is better...people really are an embarassment when they let fanboyism get in the way of objective facts like this.
I saw some clown saying spiderman is better...people really are an embarassment when they let fanboyism get in the way of objective facts like this.
Is that supposed to be blowing anyone away?
This is a PS4 game.
When control came out some people also tried to make it seem like it was the best looking game ever and now it’s barely ever mentioned.
And I’m not even getting into animations where Alan Wake 2 often falters or visual artifacts from aggressive upscaling.
It looks really good but I’m sorry if not everybody is blown away like you are.
Yes one clearly looks like a video game character, face, hair, clothes, everything.
The other can passes for real life at quick glance.
Its not even close and you know it.
The gap between the clothes alone is like the gap between heaven and earth.
Elysium44
Banned
The TLOU models are the ones which can pass for real life at a glance. AW2 is profoundly overrated in every respect and seems to be more a case of people getting carried away because it's the thing you're supposed to do, praise Remedy because they made a couple of great games 20 years ago.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Right!? I feel like some people in this thread are overhyping AW2 way too much. Yes it has very detailed environments and awesome volumetrics and lighting, but the characters are still a notch below games like Horizon Forbidden West, Callisto Protocol and Phantom Liberty.Best characters in the business alright
tommib
Banned
Is that supposed to be blowing anyone away?
This is a PS4 game.
When control came out some people also tried to make it seem like it was the best looking game ever and now it’s barely ever mentioned.
And I’m not even getting into animations where Alan Wake 2 often falters or visual artifacts from aggressive upscaling.
It looks really good but I’m sorry if not everybody is blown away like you are.
I don’t know what everyone’s smoking with AW2 graphics. There’s a ton of neat tricks in it and the lighting is super cool due to the art direction, but the characters and general asset quality is nothing we haven’t seen before with better results.
And there’s just so many glitches with colour grading and puppet animations from the characters. I absolutely adore the game but it’s like I’m in a different reality thinking that, fuck, TLOU Part 1, Callisto or Forbidden West blow this out of the water in consistency, density, polish and general image quality.
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TxKnight7
Member
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digoutyoursoul
Member
There is a patch out today I think
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sertopico
Member
Casey looks out of place somehow, as he was the character from an older videogame... I wonder if that is intentional. Reminds me a bit of the G-Man. And about the skin shader I agree, it could be definitely better and SSS could be more present. Skin material looks too rough from time to time, especially on some camera close-ups.Couldn't find a good shot of Alan, but here's one with both FBI Agents. Casey's face model looks more plastic-y and even uncanny in comparison to Saga's, which again I think are a tad below in detail than the main characters in Plague Tale Requiem. Maybe they are using subsurface scattering, but it's more subtle due to the lighting conditions? Idk.
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Roberts
Member
I have just about zero understanding on what is impressive on tech level. I can only judge game visuals based on art-direction, originality or the feeling that I have never seen anything like this before. If a game impresses me, I make a lot of screenshots. It can be an indie game or it can be a game like Starfield (I probably made over 50 screenshots during my time with the game) that a lot of people scoff at. So, yeah, I have made tons of Alan Wake 2 screenshots and think it often looks incredible. There were quite a few moments that look like nothing else I have seen before even though the lightning is static and there are other tricks that open world games, for example, can't afford.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Mortal Kombat 1, Callisto Protocol and Phantom Liberty are top 5.
Along with Alan Wake 2 which looks offline rendered at times.
Probably its biggest weakness is the skin shader, near everything else is top tier.
^The lighting and materials are so correct.
Yeah, the asset quality is pretty high even on console.
The game often looks like CG, especially in the foggy forest areas.
T4keD0wN
Member
I think it might be taken with "Otis_inf" photo mode tools, not sure it works with current version of the game though.
And yes unfotunately its paid, but theres a lot of other tools for various different engines and they often have a lot of features like time of day and changing game speed control.
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Mortisfacio
Member
Is that supposed to be blowing anyone away?
This is a PS4 game.
When control came out some people also tried to make it seem like it was the best looking game ever and now it’s barely ever mentioned.
And I’m not even getting into animations where Alan Wake 2 often falters or visual artifacts from aggressive upscaling.
It looks really good but I’m sorry if not everybody is blown away like you are.
We're counting pre-rendered cutscenes as game graphics now? The gameplay does not look like that. The gameplay looks very PS4.
SF Kosmo
Banned
I think it's Cyberpunk 2.0 with path tracing, not just door the technical rendering features, but for doing it in a massive, dense urban world full of multicolored, moving light sources. It's like the ultimate challenging scenario for next gen rendering and they nail it so well.
Of course darkly lit environments are differently challenging for path tracing due to the need for more samples to avoid boiling artifacts, and Alan Wake 2 looks amazing. It's a strong #2.
Of course darkly lit environments are differently challenging for path tracing due to the need for more samples to avoid boiling artifacts, and Alan Wake 2 looks amazing. It's a strong #2.
Ev1L AuRoN
Member
Thinking about it, my list would be something like this:
- Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty;
- Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart;
- Alan Wake 2;
- Callisto Protocol;
- Spider-Man 2.
The artful mincer
Member
A quick google on graphics meaning.Reading throught this topic is fascinating, different people have complete different meaning of what good graphic, good characters etc.
Some opinions are so wild
"visual images produced by computer processing"
That leaves a lot open to interpterion! I get why people lol at my Spiderman 2 post as I've seen all the screenshots of last gen character models and dodgy lava textures Etc. I can't argue against that but for some reason I've always found loads of NPCs, Colors, Physics and Destruction really impressive. I feel like Spider 2 really focused on NYC being lively at the expense of other stuff and that's where the disconnect is for some of us.
It's just wild to me that you can plonk down almost anywhere and there will be countless Npcs, Traffic, Unique assets and raytraced reflections everywhere and you can whizz off at Mach 10 and be in a completely different location with similar levels. If you look down any street it's crazy far how dense the traffic will remain as well. The Flip side of that is if you focus on any one NPC or individual reflection you will notice the lower quality. ( Skipping remastered and Miles Morales probably helped!)
Traversal speed has been game changing for me I really notice how slow similar games are now e.g. Horizon FW, Hogwarts, Just cause and now Avatar. (Avatar really had Horrendous pop in as well)
People liking Alan wake seem to be focused on how realistic it is which is fine but if that's all we care about we could have game's run at 10fps but I doubt anyone would be impressed.
I've never been wowed by Alan wake 2 I don't get it. Sure it looks goods in screenshots and moving slowly around but so what? From what I've seen (haven't played) it's a very static world with not much going on.
Are the levels big?
Any physics going on?
Are the hit reactions good?
How many NPC's or Enemies?
How good's the draw distance?
How good's the animation?
etc. etc.
Usually best graphics has seemed to encompass everything hence most people agreeing RDR2 was the top dog last gen despite that game clearly looking worse in screenshots against the last of us 2.
Everything I've said above is referring to console footage of all games.
BootsLoader
Banned
To put it correctly, yes this is the most impressive Linear game.
The artful mincer
Member
If we want to chat about objective facts there are things Spiderman 2 is doing that Alan Wake 2 or any other game aren't.
But yes Alan Wake 2 has better character models and more detailed (but smaller) environments.
SoraNoKuni
Member
Maxed out on PC, maybe.
On PS5 though the performance mode is quite bad IMO.
It looks good due to the atmosphere but the game doesn't hold up quality wise.
And mind you I really like Alan Wake and Remedy in general, control and the first AW are some of my favorite games ever.
On PS5 though the performance mode is quite bad IMO.
It looks good due to the atmosphere but the game doesn't hold up quality wise.
And mind you I really like Alan Wake and Remedy in general, control and the first AW are some of my favorite games ever.
Fbh
Member
God I love this game it is my GOTY and this is the only game that makes me gives me a survival experience of this level since Silent Hill 2/3 (which I both played day one).
But OH GOD I'm tired of those underpowered consoles, the frame rate mode removes SO MANY details and isn't even that smooth (playing on PS5) and in "Quality" mode there're tons of aliasing and every movement is BLURRY AS FUCK. FFtype0 x1000.
And I'm not mad at Remedy, this is my favorite studio in the world, no problem, but the consoles that were supposed to deliver 60fps experience AT LEAST and for EVERY GAME and sometimes 120 aren't capable at all.
- Starfield at 1440p 30fps on XSX even though it isn't impressive at all technically.
- FFXVI on PS5 is barely playable and honestly it must have barely passed the quality checks, the game is at 720p on frame rate mode (again still VERY BAD frame rate and blurry AF) and in quality mode... even blurrier and runs at 25fps mostly. A FF game, in 2023, running at 25fps.
- Redfall looks like a low quality 360 game upscaled in FHD and runs at 30 fps, ok.
- Forespoken is unplayable so I didn't buy it (will get it on PC).
Seriously wtf ? Never seen such a technically limited generation, consoles can't run the game and they came out just 3 years ago.
Btw I'm playing on an LGC1 perfectly calibrated so the bad experience doesn't come from my TV.
There's nothing different,underpowered or bad about this gen of consoles.
These consoles are $500 (or less if you get the digital PS5) and as with every console gen before them, the pricetag comes with a power limitation. The power gap with PC will continue to grow as new PC hardware gets released almost every year while consoles stay the same for 6-7 years. There's no "secret sauce" where Sony/MS will give you the performance of a $1500 GPU paired with a $500 CPU for $499.
It's up to devs to decide how they want to use the limited power in these consoles.
Some like Santa Monica will decide to make a game like Ragnarok which looks distinctly last gen but has a nice sharp image and basically perfect 60fps performance (or even higher in the 120hz VRR mode)
Some like Guerilla or Insomniac will, IMO, strike a good balance between pushing visuals while still mantaining a respectable level of performance and resolution.
Others like Remedy or Asobo will try to push visuals as much as they can at the cost of performance and resolution.
Every game on your list could have offered native 1440p at 60fps if that's what the devs were aiming for. But they decided to go for visuals instead. It's up to you to decide if it's worth it, IMO though none of these 30fps focused console games look good enough to justify their bad performance, but that's just me.
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
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SenkiDala
Member
That is absolutely true, this is the most technically advanced video game to date, and denying it is just being delusional.Yeah and its not even close. If this was a sony exclusive, all the people laughing would be screaming yes from the mountain top.
GymWolf
Member
Weak sauce excuse is weak.Casey as modeled after Sam Lake who looks out of place in real life.
SEGAvangelist
Member
I think it is. If only they gave a shit about the damn lip-sync issues. I swear every Remedy game launches with some kind of bullshit. I have such a love/hate relationship with this developer.
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
You cant turn off motion blur? Thats all that is.God I love this game it is my GOTY and this is the only game that makes me gives me a survival experience of this level since Silent Hill 2/3 (which I both played day one).
But OH GOD I'm tired of those underpowered consoles, the frame rate mode removes SO MANY details and isn't even that smooth (playing on PS5) and in "Quality" mode there're tons of aliasing and every movement is BLURRY AS FUCK. FFtype0 x1000.
And I'm not mad at Remedy, this is my favorite studio in the world, no problem, but the consoles that were supposed to deliver 60fps experience AT LEAST and for EVERY GAME and sometimes 120 aren't capable at all.
- Starfield at 1440p 30fps on XSX even though it isn't impressive at all technically.
- FFXVI on PS5 is barely playable and honestly it must have barely passed the quality checks, the game is at 720p on frame rate mode (again still VERY BAD frame rate and blurry AF) and in quality mode... even blurrier and runs at 25fps mostly. A FF game, in 2023, running at 25fps.
- Redfall looks like a low quality 360 game upscaled in FHD and runs at 30 fps, ok.
- Forespoken is unplayable so I didn't buy it (will get it on PC).
Seriously wtf ? Never seen such a technically limited generation, consoles can't run the game and they came out just 3 years ago.
Btw I'm playing on an LGC1 perfectly calibrated so the bad experience doesn't come from my TV.
And no FF16 on PS5 is perfectly playable. I played it for 60 hours at 30 fps and never noticed any framedrops. 25 fps mostly is an exeggeration.
If you can afford an LG C1 you can afford a decent PC. Play these games at any setting and resolution you want. No need to pair a $2000 tv with a $500 console. If you want 60 fps, you have to spend the money. you get what you pay for. you got 60 fps for the first three years of this gen due to cross gen games, but with next gen games of course the GPUs will be used for more graphics fidelity and that means cutting down on resolution and framerate.
again, if you want both, get a PC or wait for the pro.
GymWolf
Member
Sp2 looking lively is a complete facade tho since you barely interact with ncps and no interaction whatsoever with cars, infamous 1 on ps2 does both better by a landslide.
It's lively from a distance because when you try to interact with the world, stuff like watch dogs 2, rdr2, gta5, old bethesda open worlds destroy the poor spidey.
All modern sony open world have fake npcs because they like their games as clean and optimized as possible and they don't want to deal with actual npcs interactions that bring a whole new level of bugs, glitches, ia problems, physics problems etc.
And no, having a prompt to high five or npcs reacting like ps1 npcs with a generic animation when danger is close, it's not what i call significant interaction.
I love sony open world for different reasons, but feeling lively in the sense of having a cause-response with the world is definitely not their forte.
You know how much i love horizon so you know it's not just a jab at sony, it's just how they operate.
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tommib
Banned
DavidGzz
Gold Member
Yeah, and the water interaction is a lot better as well. Bodies of water look pretty bad in AW2.
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