Alan Wake 2 - Performance or Quality?

RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I'm finally going to get to play this game, been waiting for the physical release which is out this week.

So, I understand that on PS5 at launch neither mode was very good. Has this improved with updates? I almost always go with Performance unless it looks absolutely terrible. But if Performance is very unstable (like 45-60fps) or blurry while Quality is a stable 30 I'd probably go with the latter.

And yes, I know this game will probably be much improved on Pro, but I'm not buying one of those for $1,145 (that's literally what it will cost with the disc drive here in Sweden, it's absolutely ludicrous).
 
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The peformance mode looks shockingly bad at points where half the screen is just white flickering pixels and despite that it still can't maintain 60 fps in big chunks of the game. Not recommended unless they changed something in the last couple of months.
 
I played it in quality mode on Series X and found it to be decent in terms of frame rate. At lease I adjusted to it pretty quickly.
 
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DenchDeckard said:
Play on pc and have both....

Sorry that's my knobhead post for the day out the window.

Sell your house and get a pro?
Click to expand...

It's not that I couldn't afford a Pro, I just can't justify spending quite that much on a console. It's literally twice what I spent on my standard PS5.
 
I played in performance at few weeks after launch and it was mostly fine. If I remember correctly, the first forest area was worst performance wise, and even that is mostly fine-ish with occasional random drop to maybe 55fps. I play on a 83" OLED and the game looked fine even on that. Sure, the image is a bit soft and there are some flickering issues, pixellated reflections etc. But as a whole, the game looks fantastic even in performance mode. Can't wait to see how it looks like with the Pro. (That cost 950€ here in Finland too, but I couldn't resist :messenger_grinning_sweat: )
 
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I finished the game in the performance mode and it didn't run bad or look horrible. Sure the console struggled in some areas, but it wasn't catastrophic like playing Control on base PS4. ;)
 
Skitso said:
I played in performance at few weeks after launch and it was mostly fine. If I remember correctly, the first forest area was worst performance wise, and even that is mostly fine-ish with occasional random drop to maybe 55fps. I play on a 83" OLED and the game looked fine even on that. Sure, the image is a bit soft and there are some flickering issues, pixellated reflections etc. But as a whole, the game looks fantastic even in performance mode. Can't wait to see how it looks like with the Pro. (That cost 950€ here in Finland too, but I couldn't resist :messenger_grinning_sweat: )
Click to expand...

I mean, I wouldn't call a game that :
- Has framerate drops
- Has soft/blurry image quality
- Has flickering
- Has pixel crawling
- pixelated reflections

...to look "fantastic"

They really tried but, this, on consoles is a shit-show since everything is brought down by the technical deficiencies and it's a shame.

I loved the game (PS5) but it gave me flashbacks of the PS360 era where games would be marred by terrible resolutions, AA, tearing, dubious framerates etc etc - like the hardware wasn't exactly up to snuff/couldn't cope with some games.
 
So.. That's either Swedish PS5s Pro are made of gold... or you have very cheap houses there in Sweden :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 
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Calverz said:
Even with pssr it's not hitting 60fps or higher?
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It is in performance mode (that apparently uses base PS5 graphics mode settings) but with no RT and with internal ~800p resolution (reconstructed to 4k using PSSR).

FoxMcChief said:
Always Quality.
Click to expand...

What is dumb is they completely forgot (like most devs) that 40fps is possible, why not make 40fps mode with RT and internal 1080p res?
 
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RoadHazard said:
It's not that I couldn't afford a Pro, I just can't justify spending quite that much on a console. It's literally twice what I spent on my standard PS5.
Click to expand...

I'm in the UK and the same as you. BUT, I am well aware of my privileged position when it comes to PC gaming so that assists in my decisions. I get a lot of free stuff, pc components wise and I'm just in the process of securing a small form factor build for my front room. So I wont need the pro until some big first party exclusives launch.
 
RoadHazard said:
I'm finally going to get to play this game, been waiting for the physical release which is out this week.

So, I understand that on PS5 at launch neither mode was very good. Has this improved with updates? I almost always go with Performance unless it looks absolutely terrible. But if Performance is very unstable (like 45-60fps) or blurry while Quality is a stable 30 I'd probably go with the latter.

And yes, I know this game will probably be much improved on Pro, but I'm not buying one of those for $1,145 (that's literally what it will cost with the disc drive here in Sweden, it's absolutely ludicrous).
Click to expand...
Same 'problem' here, so nice thread. I'm getting the game today and will play it over the weekend.

Since I spent the last 100 or so hours in Kingdom Come: Deliverance with 30fps AND a low resolution, I'm going to play AWII in performance mode. For me, a low resolution is not as much of a turn-off as a low frame rate.

I'm sure it's definitely playable that way.
 
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DenchDeckard said:
I'm in the UK and the same as you. BUT, I am well aware of my privileged position when it comes to PC gaming so that assists in my decisions. I get a lot of free stuff, pc components wise and I'm just in the process of securing a small form factor build for my front room. So I wont need the pro until some big first party exclusives launch.
Click to expand...
Being able to afford any non necessity is a privilege. In that regard, the Pro is no different than a monster PC.
 
Unless it has been notably patched up since last year, stick to the Quality mode on PS5, the performance mode there drops a lot.
 
HeWhoWalks said:
the Pro is no different than a monster PC
Click to expand...
high quality GIF
 
Giallo Corsa said:
I mean, I wouldn't call a game that :
- Has framerate drops
- Has soft/blurry image quality
- Has flickering
- Has pixel crawling
- pixelated reflections

...to look "fantastic"

They really tried but, this, on consoles is a shit-show since everything is brought down by the technical deficiencies and it's a shame.

I loved the game (PS5) but it gave me flashbacks of the PS360 era where games would be marred by terrible resolutions, AA, tearing, dubious framerates etc etc - like the hardware wasn't exactly up to snuff/couldn't cope with some games.
Click to expand...
lol

Alan Wake 2 is not the best optimized game, but I'm sure that it have great visuals for the most part of people who played it. You guys are extremely exaggerated, the game don't looks like 360/PS3 at all.
 
The way the game is marketed and advertised because it's how it's supposed to be seen/played…. Quality
 
Represent. said:
The way the game is marketed and advertised because it's how it's supposed to be seen/played…. Quality
Click to expand...
I'm genuinely interested in how you're going to approach TLOU games looking better at 60fps than Fidelity 4K.

Will you still select Fidelity, or play them both looking and playing their best at 60fps? Meaning that once you're done with them you're likely never, ever going to be able to play at 30fps again?
 
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Kupfer said:
Does the performance mode drop below 48fps or does PS5 VRR its job?
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Per the DF testing, it's hovering around the 50~ line almost through the entire Cauldron Lake area (1/3rd of the game). Any time it goes below 48, the VRR will stop.

30 is at least more consistent.
 
adamsapple said:
Per the DF testing, it's hovering around the 50~ line almost through the entire Cauldron Lake area (1/3rd of the game). Any time it goes below 48, the VRR will stop.

30 is at least more consistent.
Click to expand...
I know the theory, but does it actually drop below 48fps, and if so, does it happen regularly?
 
Kupfer said:
I know the theory, but does it actually drop below 48fps, and if so, does it happen regularly?
Click to expand...

In their video, it goes down maybe a couple of frames. Mostly hovers at or around 50~52 mark so technically it will be within the VRR window most of the time.
 
Quality. It's a slow-paced, atmospheric game that wants you to engage with its story more so than straight up action sequences. You'll have the best overall experience and presentation with Quality mode here.
 
kaizenkko said:
lol

Alan Wake 2 is not the best optimized game, but I'm sure that it have great visuals for the most part of people who played it. You guys are extremely exaggerated, the game don't looks like 360/PS3 at all.
Click to expand...

Reading, how does it work ?
Nowhere did I say that it looks like a PS360 game ffs, just that it reminded me of the technical deficiencies most games during that gen had.

Also, it's not about "optimization" man, these consoles just couldn't handle the game's whole shebang/technical aspects , it's obvious that something had to give since it's a prettyyy heavy game even on PC.

Cheers

Edit : I guess that those that say that they'll play it on quality mode don't have OLED TVs with their inherent sub-60fps judder
 
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kaizenkko said:
lol

Alan Wake 2 is not the best optimized game, but I'm sure that it have great visuals for the most part of people who played it. You guys are extremely exaggerated, the game don't looks like 360/PS3 at all.
Click to expand...
The visuals isn't the problem. It's the game play and characters.
 
The performance mode looks awful but I also couldn't stand the 30fps mode as is. Since the game doesn't require quick inputs, I played on quality mode and turned on motion interpolation. The input lag was bad but I rather have the fluid motion.
 
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