DSOGaming: Starfield 2022 vs 2023 Video Graphics Comparison shows noticeable downgrades

Draugoth

Draugoth

Gold Member
YouTube's 'Cycu1' has shared an early graphics video comparison between the 2022 and 2023 demos of Bethesda's upcoming triple-A title, Starfield. And, as the title implies, there have been some noticeable downgrades.

As you can see, the faces and facial hair of all characters look noticeably worse in the 2023 demo. I really don't know what's going on here, but the characters were my main issue with the 2023 demo. All of them now appear flat, and their facial hair looks awful. Their eyes also now lack a lot of detail, making them feel lifeless and… dare to say… even worse than old-gen characters.
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Starfield-2022-vs-2023-2.jpg
Starfield-2022-vs-2023.jpg





The good news is that Bethesda was able to maintain the quality of the game's environments. Not only that, but it has added a few higher-quality environmental assets in some areas. The TOD (time of day) has also changed in some scenes, meaning that we don't have 1-1 comparisons for its lighting/TOD.

And yes, there are some "artistic" changes. For instance, the main room at 2:00 now has a dust/haze effect and a different TOD. These are fine, and we don't really mind these changes. However, we can't overlook the major downgrade of all of the game's characters.
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Anything to make themselves feel better I guess. People were up in arms last year about not liking the look of Starfield.
 
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The scope of this is huge, graphical downgrades should be the least of our worries.
I prefer if it lives up to expectations, in terms of what you can do, gunplay etc.
 
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character models are incredibly bad in both examples honestly. they are basically fallout 4 level in this day and age.
they seem to have improved plenty of other stuff except these.
 
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It's a Bethesda game. If you go in expecting generation-defining graphics you're doing it wrong.

That they're managing visuals this good on that rickety old engine is a miracle. We should be grateful
 
I can't overstate just how little I care if there's been some perceived downgrade in the visual department.
Graphical fidelity is at the bottom of my list of things I care about Starfield.
I'm way more concerned by the fact that it's a Bethesda game launching in 2023.
 
Batiman said:
The showing overall was way better in this recent showcase. Had everything. Hard for these little "downgrades" to bother me TBH.
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Pretty much where I'm at as well. The meat in that showcase was real. I'm literally seeing myself playing this game 5+ years from now just like I still do with Oblivion and Skyrim.
 
damidu said:
character models are incredibly bad in both examples honestly. they are basically fallout 4 level in this day and age.
they seem to have improved plenty of other stuff except these.
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To me Bethesda was never good at making good looking character models, I think most people who are in to Bethesda games already expect that and doesn't bother them.
 
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Looking for visual epitomy in a Bethesda Games Studios game is not even the last of things anyone remotely interested in their games would worry about. This is not Naughty Dog or Rockstar where people go in expecting a visual treat.

Even if there's a slight downgrade, it's serviceable. If you want the best looking version, that is about to be 10x better than even the 2022 build, then play it on PC, fully modded, like a fully modded PC version of Skyrim that's almost nextgen.
 
Fallout 4 had a lot of visual critiques at launch. It didn't stop me from enjoying the game and it didn't take long for modders to completely overhaul the graphics either.

I actually thought the new footage was an improvement over the first reveal footage but then again, I just watched it, I didn't dissect it.
 
I mean the characters do look pretty bad except for a few outliers. Kinda eerie uncanny valley in a lot of them.
 
outside of the hair on the black woman nothing looks worse to me. but even that looks like they just changed her hairstyle
 
Another case of 'they changed the lighting and everything looks different, but sure call it a downgrade'.

Maybe, just maybe this game features dynamic weather and time of day and getting the exact same shot twice is near impossible?
 
It's Starfield. A huge open world rpg. Skyrim looked like ass and fallout looks like shit but they're a ton of fun! Looks just fine to me.
 
bethesda games never had cutting-edge graphics and characters. Its the mod what make them look good. NPC overhaul mod will be there in a month or so when the game releases. Sadly these things will be fixed by mod community only.
 
The game doesn't look good in the 1st place. Either way it's gonna be a fun game who the fuck cares downgrade or not.
 
uuuhhhh....

2023 clearly looks better. The implementation of lighting and sub-surface scattering on the character models is far superior than the shiny, Fallout 4-esque 2022 version.
 
If you asked people which version was the bad version on unlabeled shots, I don't think you'd get consistent answers.
 
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I highly disagree, the lighting and the environments got a huge upgrade especially the towns, depending on the lighting these characters can look drastically better. So this entire witch-hunt is disingenuous.
 
Fast forward 6 years to YouTube videos saying "300 MODS TO MAKE STARFIELD LOOK BETTER THAN REAL LIFE!!!!!" These games… they live on mods. Who cares what the vanilla experience looks like? You can just completely change it anyway. Wake me up when there's real news.
 
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Spec maps toned down on eyes?
Higher contrast in 2022 trailer?
Wasnt the Starfield 2023 presentation notoriously lacking contrast.


P.S The lighting looks much better now.
 
lmimmfn said:
The scope of this is huge, graphical downgrades should be the least of our worries.
I prefer if it lives up to expectations, in terms of what you can do, gunplay etc.
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I like how scope for something like starfield is a plus but when other games try to go big they get shit on and told to scale everything down.
 
The fact that even the downgraded stuff didn't looked too hot to begin with it's the fun part.
 
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This was demod on xbox series x at 30fps this year.

I imagine pc could look like the left. Also, the guys suit says Barrett on it now...clear upgrade...lol
 
"Noticeable". Suuuuuureee..

Starfield was never going to be the most visual stunning game in history. We all knew that. And who cares? That's not why we play Bethesda games.
 
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