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[nkarafo]

Sometimes i really can't decide which one is the worst. It started with the piss filters in racing games. Then the overexposed bloom that made every white surface look like the sun. Then all the motion blur, which thankfully allows you to turn it off most of the time. After that, the chromatic aberration put some strain in my eyes while playing some games. Then there is the dreaded exposure auto-adjusting between light and dark, which makes daylight look like an atomic bomb blast froze in time and doesn't let you see anything outside a window or tunnel (by the way, this is a camera defect, it's not your eyes). But lately, vignette is starting to piss me off.

All modern Resident Evil games have it for some reason. The worst case is in Robocop. And unlike other effects like chromatic aberration, even on PC it's rare to find an option to turn it off. You usually need a mod to get rid of it.

I just, don't get this particular effect. I get the others but not this one? I can find a point with the others and sometimes they can be implemented in a way that makes them look good. But this one never looks good. It never adds anything, except maybe in certain parts where you are supposed to have limited visibility. All it does is limit your visibility at all times.

All these stupid visual effects make me cherish of the older days when developers had to work with limited hardware and couldn't just add useless shit just for the sake of adding shit. I'm playing older games with all the benefits like higher resolutions and frame rates, and they often look much better than the post-effect heavy modern games IMO, just because of how clean and sharp they are.

Edit: Example picture by request:

It doesn't look too bad in a still image but it does look distractingly bad in motion.

 

[mansoor1980]

the worst effect that games use nowadays , puts a strain on my eyesight

 

[The Cockatrice]

yeah I hate it as well but luckily on PC theres always mods to disable that stuff. CA, motion blur(object blur is fine sometimes if done well), exaggerated bloom(look at the new Dragon Age) are all annoying.

 

[winjer]

Yes, it's another useless effect that detracts from image quality.
Some devs just add these things for the sake of it, without thinking if they should.

 

[nkarafo]

yeah I hate it as well but luckily on PC theres always mods to disable that stuff.

In Robocop even that is annoying though. I only found one application called "Unreal Unlocker" that allows you to do that but you always have to manually open it alongside the game, alt-tab. find the process, go to the menu and toggle it manually. You have to do this dance every time you start the game, it doesn't save it.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Yep, get rid of it or allow me to turn it off. I’ll never understand why chromatic aberration, motion blur, depth of field, lens flare and now vignettes are enabled by default. I hate them.

 

[RagnarokIV]

I disable everything, motion blur is definitely the worse though. I only tend to leave on depth of field but even that depends on the game.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I disable everything, motion blur is definitely the worse though. I only tend to leave on depth of field but even that depends on the game.

Motion blur can go die in the fire of Mount Doom.

 

[The Cockatrice]

In Robocop even that is annoying though. I only found one application called "Unreal Unlocker" that allows you to do that but you always have to manually open it alongside the game, alt-tab. find the process, go to the menu and toggle it manually. You have to do this dance every time you start the game, it doesn't save it.

In a way it makes sense in Robocop, it didnt bother me there that much nor in SIlent Hill 2 since its always dark, but yeah I get you.

 

[Bulletbrain]

Completely useless effect. It's not even a ”cinematic” effect is it?

 

[keefged4]

I absolutely hate it. That and CA. First things I turn off/mod out if possible

 

[delfrickintree]

motion blur and depth of field, 2 ways to ruin your game's natural graphics.

I believe its DX Human Revolution that had a graphics setting simply called Post Processing that you could toggle off. Obviously I turned it off. Agree it should be a universal option.

 

[Gonzito]

Yep. Can't stand that along with chromatic aberration and film grain

 

[RoboFu]

Some example images would be nice.

 

[Silver Wattle]

Some devs just hate clear vision, are they people that are partially blind and want everyone else to suffer like them?

 

[mansoor1980]

Some example images would be nice.

 

[baphomet]

Completely useless effect. It's not even a ”cinematic” effect is it?

It's exactly that.

 

[Rivdoric]

Modern Gaming in a nutshell.

Just need to add TAA (yes DLSS is also a kind of TAA) and DoF and you got everything.

 

[Senua]

It was absolutely abysmal in dragons dogma 2. Disabling it made the game look so much better

 

[hinch7]

Vignette doesn't bother me too much but Chromatic aberration is absolutely terrible. Totally destroys all image quality to make things look 'filmic'. But doesn't because its a horrible effect that has no place in a video game.

Our eyes don't work like camera's and these kind of effects are dumb. Same shit when I see obnoxious lens flares.

 

[genesisblock]

I would agree with this, but as someone very sensitive to VR, it is a God send as it keeps my focus during large transitions.

 

[DirtyBast8rd]

Yep. Can't stand that along with chromatic aberration and film grain

Film grain can be usefull for reducing colorbanding. I disable it most of the time, but some games have a subtle implementation.

 

[TheStam]

I really dislike Film grain even if the all-time champion of evil effects is Motion blur. Film grain takes away from the sharpness of the image.

I also remove Chromatic Aberration at once, just like I used to spend time in Adobe programs removing it as it was inherent flaw in my cheapo camera lenses at the time. Some people like it for artistic reasons, but I can't. Vignetting I remove most of the time and Bloom if it is too heavy handed, but I'm a bit torn there. Sometimes I keep Bloom.

 

[FewRope]

I'm glad I played Dragons Dogma 2 on PC just to mod out the vignette, what the fuck were they thinking

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

All these camera effects are mimicking poor optics (yes even vignette, optical distortion, "eye adaption" ect). I have no idea why Devs (and enb/reshade authors) like this kind of crap. Why are they trying to imitate old movie camera defects. Camera optics have been trying to get away from these defects.

 

[GymWolf]

Not worse than heavy chromatic aberration but still pretty bad.

 

[StueyDuck]

Nothing is ever gonna beat CA and motion blur.

 

[GymWolf]

Nothing is ever gonna beat CA and motion blur.

Many people like motion blur, nothing better than turning the img into a blurry mess everytime you move the camera

 

[Larxia]

This and chromatic aberration are the reasons why I still haven't played Elden Ring sadly... I just can't stand them.
I know on PC you can mod them out, but then you can't play online at all which is a shame on a souls game, I really like all the various online interactions.
With how popular this game is, I'm surprised that not more people complained about it.

 

[StueyDuck]

Many people like motion blur, nothing better than turning the img into a blurry mess everytime you move the camera

just like real life .

i'd also personally throw in film grain too but there are some exceptions where it's worth it, like in a horror title.

 

[GymWolf]

just like real life .

i'd also personally throw in film grain too but there are some exceptions where it's worth it, like in a horror title.

Yeah film grain is also terrible, never found a game where i like it tbh, i'm always for a super clean iq in my games.

 

[Bulletbrain]

Modern Gaming in a nutshell.

Just need to add TAA (yes DLSS is also a kind of TAA) and DoF and you got everything.

Disagree on TAA there. It is actively fighting against aliasing/shimmering and is not a cinematic/filmic effect. It is a solution to a real problem. Of course it has it downsides but lumping Taa together with useless CA, vignetting etc is slightly unfair I feel.

 

[nkarafo]

What am i looking at? That's not just vignette, there is a dramatic change in the scene lighting and colors here.

Here's an example of vignette alone:

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

The examples posted don't look that bad to me, considering what games are been shown.
The piss filter was way more offensive, imo. That (and bloom) basically completely destroyed the image quality of an entire generation of games (and movies).

 

[Robb]

Yeah, it sucks. I really don’t understand why devs feel the need to ruin their games with freaking Instagram filters..

chromatic aberration

 

[Killjoy-NL]

It's trash.

 

[mansoor1980]

What am i looking at? That's not just vignette, there is a dramatic change in the scene lighting and colors here.

Here's an example of vignette alone:

better

 

[baphomet]

better

That's a pretty unrealistic example for 99% of gamers.

 

[mansoor1980]

That's a pretty unrealistic example for 99% of gamers.

so what is a realistic example

 

[ReyBrujo]

Motion blur can go die in the fire of Mount Doom.

I remember when motion blur was a side effect of weak hardware, can't believe it's now an asset with powerful hardware.

 

[SlimySnake]

lol RE village was the first time i noticed it. but i liked it.

Definitely should be allowed to turn it off like motion blur, film grain and chromatic abberation. I find it hilarious that these film school graduates are coming into this industry and trying to incorporate image quality flaws from shooting on film like lens flare and film grain just to give their games a filmic look. It can work in cutscenes but purposefully making your game look bad is so fucking ironic.

 

[baphomet]

so what is a realistic example

The RE picture is typical vignetting.

Or this would be that example would look like for anyone playing at ~16x9. The wider the image the darker the edges are going to be.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Sorry friends, but I don't understand... What is Vignette?

 

[FoxMcChief]

Almost as bad as “film grain”

 

[Griffon]

If a game is AAA, I disable chromatic and vignette. I want to see the good graphics clearly.

If the game looks more retro or more indie, I leave those effects on, it helps for the mood.

 

[Zelduh]

I can't stand anti-aliasing. It makes the image look blurry and vaseline-smeared

 

[baphomet]

Sorry friends, but I don't understand... What is Vignette?

From the center of an image it gets darker towards the outer edges.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

From the center of an image it gets darker towards the outer edges.

Thank you such much for the answer

 

[rm082e]

Sorry friends, but I don't understand... What is Vignette?

Darkening around the edges of the image. It's like an "old timey film camera" effect.

The first game I remember really noticing it was the original Mass Effect.

 

[Deerock71]

I've noticed the atomic bomb effect especially in Silent Hill 2. EVERYTHING IS WHITE...