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[Digital Foundry] Are Current Generation Graphics A Bit Of A Let Down?

Thebonehead

Gold Member
60fps looks like a blurry mess compared to 120fps. However, for anyone satisfied with 60fps - don't try 120fps or you won't be able to go back.

30fps is heresy.

I don't want consoles to ever target 120fps however.

As long as they target 60fps, I'll just buy a more powerful PC GPU to obtain 4k120.
My son asked me for some help as his PC looked like the game was "walking through glue"

Turns out Windows had locked the display to 60hz.

Quick reset of that back to 165 and all was well again.

As an experiment I locked my 240hz to 60 and it didn't feel good gaming or productivity.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
Oh fuck off, Digital Foundry.

Hopefully this will fuel people to moan and complain enough that developers feel compelled to make a special 15fps mode that's completely unpayable but looks more detailed when digital foundry zoom in 800%.
 

Xtib81

Member
it is a big difference. it always was.
But it's all in your brain. If you play 240hz a bit, then 60fps sucks too.
but you can go back to anything.... granted it's not a botched 30fps and motion blur is correct.
Compare 30fps demons souls ps5 to 30fps bloodborne. Demons souls is unplayable and slow. BB controls just fine. really responsive.
With devs botching 30fps so badly these days... 40fps is the new 30.

Nah it's not in your head. Oled and mini led screens make it unbearable. It's not as noticeable with old screens.
 

FeastYoEyes

Member
There's been a lot of graphically impressive games this gen, it's just hard to tell if they run poorly. When they run great, it can be jaw dropping. Avowed, Silent Hill 2 and Demons Souls come to mind. Callisto, Talos Principle II, Outlaws... There's stuff there.

I would say RE4 Remake is but there's a lot of low poly textures for foliage that took me out of it a bit.
 
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Madflavor

Member
I might actually skip next console gen, except for the Switch 2. It just doesn’t seem worth it anymore. Most games are available on PC, and first party Sony games don’t grab me like they used to.
 
I think people( reddit and neogaf) just want next gen looking games from non western devs studios, but thats rarely ever going to happen. Black myth Wukong is the exception, but it was built on the Unreal Engine that specializes in high quality asset streaming, and even then its still a souls like, poor optimized linear game with invisible walls and limited enviormental interactions. I enjoyed it, but it was no where near one of the best games I ever played, which is a prerequisite for winning GOY.
Craziest thing is that even these small AA developed games are sincerely kicking some of these recent AAA titans in the ass graphically. You can tell where Wukong cut corners but the visuals in there you can see are tangibly better than everything Sony released this gen.
 
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64gigabyteram

Reverse groomer.
They were absolutely talking about how mid gen refreshes weren't needed (and are still downplaying the Pro, or isolating it) yet they're also talking about so many concessions being needed in games right now.
Mid gen refreshes aren't needed, and also devs need to make consessions. Both things can be true

The issue is the lack of optimization. We have more impressive looking games on hardware from 2013 and even 2006. It's clearly not the fault of the machine.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Keep demanding 60 and 120fps and graphics will always “underwhelm”

What's the point of being overwhelmed when it turns into a blur fest that just feels bad at 30 in motion

60 is fine, but consoles definitely don't need to be focusing on beyond 4K 60 any time soon, we probably jumped to 4K too early when we weren't even close to photorealistic graphics at FHD

I don't really get wanting more graphics at 30 when the motion resolution is so, so much worse, personally
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Pretty much every ue5 game they review.

I'm not seeing that, sorry.

The last couple of notable UE5 games they covered, Hellblade, Silent Hill 2, Avowed and probably many before that, their DF videos were pretty positive.

Some things like SH2 having a bum Pro release at launch wasn't exactly DF going out of their way, it was something widely recognized everywhere.
 
To be honest, I was already happy with the graphics of the PS3 / x360 era, let alone PS4, but I don't mind that the graphics still keep improving. For example modern games have started to use RT. Some people still do not want RT because it kills performance (especially on consoles), but as someone who studied the rules of light I can appreciate what RT does. The difference between raster and RT is staggering in certain games, especially Cyberpunk and with the right settings RT doesn't even tank performance that much in this game on my PC. When I use DLSS and just RT shadows and reflections I actually have 1-3 fps more compared to raster ultra settings, and with TAA native I see just around 20% performance drop.

Lighting can make the difference between a flat looking game and a realistic one, and the great thing about RT is that even old games can benefit from it. I played very old games like Doom 1/2, Half Life 1 with PT and it was a very interesting new perspective even though I played these games a lot in the past. Also The Witcher 3 (one of my favourite games) looks much better with RT. I'm sure many neogafers already saw my RT comparisons from the witcher 3, so I'm not going to link them again, but the difference is staggering and I cannot imagine playing this game without RT.

Modern games have also raised the bar when it comes to asset quality. People still say PS4 era games like RDR2 or Uncharted 4 look amazing, but when you compare assets quality with modern games, there's a clear improvement.

RDR2-2025-01-02-23-14-32-552.jpg


RDR2-2025-01-02-23-19-18-042.jpg


RDR2-2025-01-02-23-33-00-734.jpg


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Uncharted-4-Kres-z-odzieja-20241206014639.jpg

u4-2024-12-05-14-59-33-018.jpg


Compare the stone in the first screenshot with Black Myth Wukong (BMW). In BMW, not only is the stone much more detailed, but the PT lighting has pixel perfect shadows that bring every bump on it's surface to life.


b1-Win64-Shipping-2024-09-01-00-30-46-747.jpg


b1-Win64-Shipping-2024-09-01-00-07-52-582.jpg


BMW-DLSSQ.jpg


And Hellblade 2 is even more detailed than Black Myth Wukong. Hellblade has totally different scenery than RDR2, but look at the ground surface. In RDR2 ground surface has fairly blury texture with some POM to mask low quality textures and create illusion of depth to otherwise flat ground surface. Then look at hellblade 2 ground surface. Texture quality holds up even if you zoom in the camera and instead of cheap POM like in RDR 2 (illusion of small roock detail) the game render actual small rocks in uncountable numbers. I have no idea how many millions of pollygons Hellblade 2 can render, but I'm blown away.

Hellblade2-Win64-Shipping-2025-01-10-00-44-19-936.jpg


Hellblade2-Win64-Shipping-2025-01-10-00-16-00-065.jpg


Hellblade2-Win64-Shipping-2025-01-10-00-28-53-562.jpg


Hellblade2-Win64-Shipping-2025-01-10-00-42-07-566.jpg

Hellblade2-Win64-Shipping-2025-01-10-00-41-34-079.jpg


Uncharted 4 has sharper textures than RDR2, but it also relies on POM and tesselation to create a sense of depth in otherwise flat textures. The raster lighting in Uncharted 4 also isnt very good by todays standards. Samuel Drake stand in the shadows on my screenshot, but he's well lit. That's the problem with raster lighting. You can prebake lighting for static objects but not for characters and moving objects. Uncharted 4 isnt even a sanbox game with changing Time Of Day, yet you can still clearly see limits of raster rendering.

On PC I see already a GENERATIONAL difference between the PS5 graphics and yet alone PS4 graphics. People who pretend that the there's no big difference arnt looking at the actual detail, but just at the overall scenery and art direction. Games like Uncharted 4 and RDR2 still look beautiful becasue of beautiful scenery and art directions, but assets quality and lighting is clearly dated by todays standards.
 
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Shaki12345

Member
The reason it's disappointing is that there are still people who prefer a juddery 30fps over 60fps. Games should be designed for 60 in quality mode and when possible pushed to 120 in performance mode. 30 is impossible on OLED. Gamers with old ass TV's don't understand how horrible 30 is on a modern TV. Developers don't seem to get it as well. Hopefully they get the message when people stop buying their shitty optimized games.

The newest Dontnod game is 30fps and looks like shit in motion. All 30fps games look like shit except Patience.

Pushing impossible fidelity is not the way to go. Performance first, fidelity next.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I'm not seeing that, sorry.

The last couple of notable UE5 games they covered, Hellblade, Silent Hill 2, Avowed and probably many before that, their DF videos were pretty positive.

Some things like SH2 having a bum Pro release at launch wasn't exactly DF going out of their way, it was something widely recognized everywhere.
they were talking shit about sh2 and avowed's pc versions. they trashed every 60 fps version of every single ue5 game because it either reduces the resolution too much or doesnt hold 60 fps. hellblade 2 got a pass because the devs smartly realized that these consoles cant do 60 fps and push the same next gen visual fidelity.

you'd think DF would learn from that but no, they still choose to treat 60 fps as the defacto mode and compare them against cross gen looking games that do 60 fps at higher 1440p resolutions. yeah, no shit sherlock.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Mid gen refreshes aren't needed, and also devs need to make consessions. Both things can be true

The issue is the lack of optimization. We have more impressive looking games on hardware from 2013 and even 2006. It's clearly not the fault of the machine.

Hilarious when people who have never written a single line of code talk about "optimization"

More impressive games from 2013 and 2006? Any examples for the class?
 

DeathGuise

Member
The reason it's disappointing is that there are still people who prefer a juddery 30fps over 60fps. Games should be designed for 60 in quality mode and when possible pushed to 120 in performance mode. 30 is impossible on OLED. Gamers with old ass TV's don't understand how horrible 30 is on a modern TV. Developers don't seem to get it as well. Hopefully they get the message when people stop buying their shitty optimized games.

The newest Dontnod game is 30fps and looks like shit in motion. All 30fps games look like shit except Patience.

Pushing impossible fidelity is not the way to go. Performance first, fidelity next.
I really want this, and it's one of the reasons why I love when companies, usually Nintendo, put together a really well-optimized game. I don't think developers are necessarily lazy, though that does happen, I think games are just so huge now that companies are driven or being told to push them out with as little polish as people will accept.
 

Shaki12345

Member
I really want this, and it's one of the reasons why I love when companies, usually Nintendo, put together a really well-optimized game. I don't think developers are necessarily lazy, though that does happen, I think games are just so huge now that companies are driven or being told to push them out with as little polish as people will accept.
At the start of development you have to make a choice. Instead of 30fps as Quality Mode you can start developing the game with a 60fps Quality Mode in mind.

But that's a developer choice. Most developers want to sell a game on Image Quality instead of actual performance.

30fps should be illegal on next gen consoles.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
they were talking shit about sh2 and avowed's pc versions. they trashed every 60 fps version of every single ue5 game because it either reduces the resolution too much or doesnt hold 60 fps.hellblade 2 got a pass because the devs smartly realized that these consoles cant do 60 fps and push the same next gen visual fidelity.

you'd think DF would learn from that but no, they still choose to treat 60 fps as the defacto mode and compare them against cross gen looking games that do 60 fps at higher 1440p resolutions. yeah, no shit sherlock.

I don't see a problem with the bolded.

If a developer wants to add a Performance Mode, consistent performance should be the target. And a separate Quality mode should meet it's own target, be it 30 or 40 etc.

I don't know if I would be praising a UE5 game just because it pushes fidelity but runs like poorly either. Eg they praised Avowed's 30 and 40 FPS modes but not the 60fps one because it isn't consistent.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I don't see a problem with the bolded.

If a developer wants to add a Performance Mode, consistent performance should be the target. And a separate Quality mode should meet it's own target, be it 30 or 40 etc.

I don't know if I would be praising a UE5 game just because it pushes fidelity but runs like poorly either. Eg they praised Avowed's 30 and 40 FPS modes but not the 60fps one because it isn't consistent.
these games run just fine at 30 fps. just like the games they jerked off to last gen like rdr2, uncharted 2, batman ak and death stranding.

now they judge the games for their 60 fps modes. then you have their retarded viewership ask them why graphics are so shit this gen. well, you are playing at 720p sometimes sub 720p resolutions with all the next gen effects taken out you dumb cunts.
 

Shaki12345

Member
these games run just fine at 30 fps. just like the games they jerked off to last gen like rdr2, uncharted 2, batman ak and death stranding.

now they judge the games for their 60 fps modes. then you have their retarded viewership ask them why graphics are so shit this gen. well, you are playing at 720p sometimes sub 720p resolutions with all the next gen effects taken out you dumb cunts.
They rune fine but all 30fps games look like SHIT in motion on modern TV's. ALL 30fps games.

Fuck 30fps.
 

kevboard

Member
they were talking shit about sh2 and avowed's pc versions.

Silent Hill 2 literally can't even animate the main character correctly unless you lock the tickrate of the game manually through .ini editing or by adding a launch command,
it has constant stutters, low quality Lumen for its nearly static lighting, awful performance compared to the visuals on offer, and it can't even hold 60fps on console at ridiculously low resolutions down to 864p, while the quality mode barely gets above 1200p while also not running smoothly.

and why is that? because at every step the devs took shortcuts that kill performance
 
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Craziest thing is that even these small AA developed games are sincerely kicking some of these recent AAA titans in the ass graphically. You can tell where Wukong cut corners but the visuals in there you can see are tangibly better than everything Sony released this gen.
I honestly cant agree with that. Wukong doesnt look better than Demon Souls remake, GT7 or Horizon Forbidden West, which is open world. I think all of those games have more going on visually. I cant really say it looks better than God of War Ragnarok either. Unreal Engine 5 is doing alot of the heavy lifting, but you can see how most games that use that engine all have the same draw backs when the game is in motion due to the anti aliasing. Once you move it falls apart unless you have a beefy PC.

Now that you mention it, I think Wukong is proped up more for being a great looking game from China more than its actually known for doing anything on a technical level. You could buy Unreal Engine market place assets and build something that looks comparable to the terrain and environments. Im not knocking it, the game does have a certain unique look to it, but I wouldnt say it looks better than everything Sony released this gen....

ezgif.com-crop4adde1f81379db76.gif
34810207fce04b7f4e7857186b4628cae52fb448.gif


The in game graphics trailer from Naughty Dogs Intergalactic already look better than everything else out. The Fable alpha gameplay trailer had good next gen graphics as well. There are plenty of good looking next gen games in development, but think the arguement about graphics being a let down boils down to some people preferring they come from non western developers instead. The problem with that is outside of Tencent, Capcom and a few others, they cant afford to or dont want to.
 
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RoboFu

One of the green rats
I think games look like crap today because they are trying to do too much and just end up looking the same. We need a lot more " art direction over of technology " in the bigger games.
Astrobot is a great example of having a great looking game with a great art direction, great frame rate, and a very polished look.
.
 

Seomel

Member
Nah, there are plenty good looking games, but most of us cant play thrm at best graphics because they are unoptimized ue5 garbage.
 

GymWolf

Member
Sony greatly underdelivered and we only have one engine with actual nextgen geometry and details but it is super heavy so not good for cheap consoles or average pc users with a 1080ti, so yeah, pretty shitty gen so far other than some ue5 standouts.

Hopefully gta6 is gonna save us but there is no chance the game is gonna look 1:1 with the trailer down to every single detail.


Maybe in the next-next gen people are gonna stop crying when a console cost more than 500 dollars if they also want:

Jump in graphic
Jump in physics
60 stable fps


You can pick one or you can spend more for something that last 5 to 8 years.
 
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Sony greatly underdelivered and we only have one engine with actual nextgen geometry and details but it is super heavy so not good for cheap consoles or average pc users with a 1080ti, so yeah, pretty shitty gen so far other than some ue5 standouts.

Hopefully gta6 is gonna save us but there is no chance the game is gonna look 1:1 with the trailer down to every single detail.


Maybe in the next-next gen people are gonna stop crying when a console cost more than 500 dollars if they also want:

Jump in graphic
Jump in physics
60 stable fps


You can pick one or you can spend more for something that last 5 to 8 years.
We've established 60FPS as baseline for this gen. So if we continue this + A.I. driven upscaling perhaps we'll get better visuals next gen.

UE5 feels unnecessarily demanding - though the best looking games currently out right now are UE5 games.
 

GymWolf

Member
We've established 60FPS as baseline for this gen. So if we continue this + A.I. driven upscaling perhaps we'll get better visuals next gen.

UE5 feels unnecessarily demanding - though the best looking games currently out right now are UE5 games.
The ue5 games you see now are made with unoptimized version of the engine.

I'm gonna quote my forum wife SlimySnake SlimySnake for the details on how the latest version of ue5 run.


First version of decima engine had some shitty stuff that got improved by both ds and fw, it is the same with ue5.
 
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Cyberpunkd

Member
The question of whether current-generation graphics—say, in gaming consoles like the PS5, Xbox Series X, or high-end PC GPUs like NVIDIA's RTX 50-series—are a letdown depends on expectations and context. Let’s break it down.
Pursuing incredible graphics is the main driver behind games taking years and hundreds of millions to develop, which in turn fuels the GAAS push. Let's see what gaming media has to say:

DF: Are Current Generation Graphics A Bit Of A Let Down?

ray donovan omg GIF by Sky


Yes, because what we need is better graphics, not better stories, characters, enemy AI. It's the shiny that we need more of.
 
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