[VFX_Veteran]

What do you guys feel in your own experiences?

Dragon's Dogma 2 PT mode

Out of all the next gen games it's path-tracing that moves the needle forward for this generation. DD2 is ahead of it's time because it looks the most accurate with no tricks that I can see to get lighting a scene. All light sources are real and all geometry in the scene can only be lit by the light sources available with light bounces. Even more accurate than CP2077 and hardware Lumen.

How about you guys? What tickles your fancy?

 

[regawdless]

DD2 desperately needs a denoiser for that, and it's a mod, so I don't really count that tbh. Looks great though and showcases the potential of the tech.

Visuals only, I think Hellblade 2 is extremely polished and well done, although limited in scope. Horizon Forbidden West on PC, maxed with high res looks incredibly clean and detailed, very polished.

 

[TaySan]

Hellblade 2 out fo the games I've played this year. Though Alan Wake 2 still takes the cake for graphics king in my book

 

[Dacon]

Hellblade 2 out fo the games I've played this year. Though Alan Wake 2 still takes the cake for graphics king in my book

Hellblade 2 looks like it was filmed through the lens of a midget's butthole.

Alan Wake 2 looks phenomenal, but only in certain environments. It often looks dreary, dull and flat. Character models and animation are often pretty ass looking too.

I honestly dunno what the best looking of the year is tbh.

 

[Zefah]

Still Cyberpunk 2077 for me with Alan Wake 2 as a close second. DD2 with path tracing would be right up there with them, but it needs official support.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Horizon Forbidden West on PC, maxed with high res looks incredibly clean and detailed, very polished.

That's using last-gen tech though. Still using light probes, shadow maps, etc.

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

I judge on both technical but also visual, even if it's a 20 year old remaster. Beautiful to look at is still in the eye of the beholder. I like games, both those with insane graphics and or a recognizable more visual style. Games that wowed me for their incredible visuals, and or art direction.

Spoiler: Big List

13 Sentinals Ageis Rim
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
Ace Combat 7: Unknown Skies
Assassins Creed Origins
Baldurs Gate 3
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Bioshock
Bastion
Bloodborne
Chrono Trigger
Control
Demon Souls
Demon Souls Remake
Dark Souls
Dead Space 2
Diablo II: Resurrected
Diablo III (Yes, I've grown to like the cozy WoW atmosphere.)
Diablo IV
Dragons Crown Pro
Dragon Quest XI: Echos of an Illusive Age
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Final Fantasy VII: Remake
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
God of War
Ghost of Tsushima
Grand Blue Fantasy Re-link
Hades
Hollow Knight
Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon: Forbidden West
Jade Empire
Jedi: Fallen Order
Jedi: Survivor
Kotor
Monster Hunter World
Metaphor Re-Fantizero (Art direction hard carries)
Mass Effect
Mass Effect 2
NEO: The World Ends with You
Nier: Automatia
Odin Sphere: Luftraisure
Okami
Octopath Traveler
Octopath Traveler II
Persona 3: RE
Persona 5: Royal
Project: Wingman
Red Dead Redemption 2
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4: Remake
Returnal
Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Stellar Blade
Star Ocean: The Second Story R
Uncharted
Uncharted 2
Uncharted 4
Unicorn Overlord
Witcher 2
Witcher 3
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Xenoblade Chronicles X
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

 

[regawdless]

That's using last-gen tech though. Still using light probes, shadow maps, etc.

I know, but the result is still incredible overall and this game is pretty much peak visuals with "fake" lighting. Would obviously be better with real RTGI but they use effective tricks to make the world looks coherent and they're able to avoid the typical glowing areas for the most part. I'd say it's the best they could do without RT.

 

[Eneru]

Crysis still King

 

[Pyrate]

I know, but the result is still incredible overall and this game is pretty much peak visuals with "fake" lighting. Would obviously be better with real RTGI but they use effective tricks to make the world looks coherent and they're able to avoid the typical glowing areas for the most part. I'd say it's the best they could do without RT.

Nooo it has to be in expensive ray tracing and using fake generated frames and propped up low resolution, or it doesn't count.

 

[regawdless]

Nooo it has to be in expensive ray tracing and using fake generated frames and propped up low resolution, or it doesn't count.

I mean, it would look substantially better with the things you've mentioned, on a high-end PC. But it's a console game first and they maxed the PS5 potential out here, delivering banger visuals that translate very well to PC and Pro.

Next gen Horizon game will be insane.

 

[Dacon]

I mean, it would look substantially better with the things you've mentioned, on a high-end PC. But it's a console game first and they maxed the PS5 potential out here, delivering banger visuals that translate very well to PC and Pro.

Next gen Horizon game will be insane.

frame gen is ass

 

[regawdless]

frame gen is ass

Depends on the use case. It's not meant to be a tool to fix struggling performance at lower fps. When you have like 80fps either way and add frame gen, the added fluidity is pretty nice. I'm not a fan of it at lower fps.

 

[Dacon]

Depends on the use case. It's not meant to be a tool to fix struggling performance at lower fps. When you have like 80fps either way and add frame gen, the added fluidity is pretty nice. I'm not a fan of it at lower fps.

Even at high fps, it's not worth the artifacts and weird ass sharpening it causes.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

frame gen is ass

You mean on PSSR? or DLSS?

 

[VFX_Veteran]

I mean, it would look substantially better with the things you've mentioned, on a high-end PC. But it's a console game first and they maxed the PS5 potential out here, delivering banger visuals that translate very well to PC and Pro.

Next gen Horizon game will be insane.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Lighting is the top rendering feature in any game, film, or VFX. If you have bad lighting in a game (after so many people now know what "correct" lighting looks like), it destroys the entire presentation.

I complained about the glowy lighting in Horizon from day 1 and people thought I was crazy in the head because there was no example of proper lighting. All the RT titles on the PC that use path-tracing completely stand out to me because of it's lighting. Even then, the PT in all the games are not true PT. They have to be blended in with the hack single ray bounce solution. That's why I'm so praising of the REengine's PT because it cuts no corners and relies strictly on the energy of it's lightsources. Yes, it's noisy as hell and is annoying. But going back to their RTXGI solution is more annoying to me.

 

[Frito_Pendejo]

Cyberpunk for me although I thought Silent Hill looked incredible on PC as well. Alien Isolation still holds up as well.

 

[Joe T.]

frame gen is ass

Maybe the most overhyped and (thankfully) underused new feature of the current hardware generation. I veered completely away from it, value low latency too much to consider it even when there aren't any glaring visual issues.

If Nvidia uses another hardware-specific feature like that to sell the 5000 series I'm going to have a good laugh.

Still waiting on Racer RTX, Jensen. Remember that little demo that was used to sell the 4090?

TheSt0ke
•3mo ago•
German Nvidia Podcast talking about Racer RTX.


Tldr: Would have needed too much performance, basically another "Crysis". Game was developed out of NVIDIA Omniverse, which isn't rly suited for game development in the first place. Internal resources were shifted towards Portal RTX...But we will see the game eventually, maybe with a different name.

 

[regawdless]

We'll have to agree to disagree. Lighting is the top rendering feature in any game, film, or VFX. If you have bad lighting in a game (after so many people now know what "correct" lighting looks like), it destroys the entire presentation.

I complained about the glowy lighting in Horizon from day 1 and people thought I was crazy in the head because there was no example of proper lighting. All the RT titles on the PC that use path-tracing completely stand out to me because of it's lighting. Even then, the PT in all the games are not true PT. They have to be blended in with the hack single ray bounce solution. That's why I'm so praising of the REengine's PT because it cuts no corners and relies strictly on the energy of it's lightsources. Yes, it's noisy as hell and is annoying. But going back to their RTXGI solution is more annoying to me.

I agree and love PT. I just think that the whole presentation, the combination of the art design and the visual effects, comes together extremely well in Forbidden West. They crafted the game, the world, the art around the tech with all its limitations, creating a stunning package. It would look better with RT or even PT. But the lighting isn't as bad as with most other games, I think they did a very good job combining a lot of different tricks.

 

[VFX_Veteran]

Maybe the most overhyped and (thankfully) underused new feature of the current hardware generation. I veered completely away from it, value low latency too much to consider it even when there aren't any glaring visual issues.

If Nvidia uses another hardware-specific feature like that to sell the 5000 series I'm going to have a good laugh.

Still waiting on Racer RTX, Jensen. Remember that little demo that was used to sell the 4090?

Uhmm.. you are going to have to come with facts about your claim that Frame-gen is bad or horrible. What is your evidence?

 

[Joe T.]

Uhmm.. you are going to have to come with facts about your claim that Frame-gen is bad or horrible. What is your evidence?

It's baked into the cake. A more responsive experience (re: low latency) and higher frame rates used to be a package deal, but frame gen obviously doesn't work that way.

It's not all that different from the "soap opera effect" topic on TV discussions, different strokes for different folks. Funny enough, I tend to prefer having that turned on when I'm watching TV/movies.