The Last Of Us 2 Downgrades [TLOU2]

Compared to the E3 trailer versions, there is significant downgrades in the final version of the game, mainly the lighting, shadowing and volumetric fog, some animations and physics as well.

 
The guy did a great job to break out the differences. Of course he will be downvoted to death. The 2018 is a notable jump over final. The atmosphere/feel of the world is what’s most impacted. The lighting, fog and texture quality all make the world feel notably more alive and eerie in the 2018 and generally just a bit “flat” in the final. The animations are one area where I wish the downgrade wouldn’t happen as we need a major bump in quality on that end for all games. The animation in the final version looks no better than any other game now.
 
i think the animations look great. Falls short of what was shown in 2018, but I still think likely will be best of class for in-game for this generation.

Lighting and shadows took a huge hit from 2018. I was convinced it was going to be the graphical win of the generation, but it's so clear when dynamic and static objects are lit differently in this final build.

Image clarity hurts it as well, but the main issue I have with the build is the lighting changes.

Overall very good imo still definitely among the top performers in graphics. But not as good as the hyperbolic praise as it gets from some fans that can't perform a neutral evaluation.
 
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There are also some upgrades mentioned but yeah. Right now the biggest flaw in ND’s engine imho is the lighting of the main character. It can be really poor at times. There is big room for improvement in that area next gen with some very light raytracing.

The environments and vegetation and such though and some of the materials too, amazing. Lost Legacy was truly fantastic especially stuff like the Shiva statue level in chapter 7. But also the lost pirate city in Uncharted 4 still looks amazing today, and the way you have frantic gameplay in that with the rope swinging mechanics etc, it still looks stunning.
 
The question is: why?

Not only developers have known for ages that we gamers notice these kinds of differences (we remember trailers and preview demos, we can even keep videos of it to compare later, downgrades are criticised aggressively...), but also ND has developed a few games before this one, so they perfectly know the machine and what they can and cannot do. So, why?

BTW, is the PRO version still lacking those shadows, animations, etc.?
 
The question is: why?

Not only developers have known for ages that we gamers notice these kinds of differences (we remember trailers and preview demos, we can even keep videos of it to compare later, downgrades are criticised aggressively...), but also ND has developed a few games before this one, so they perfectly know the machine and what they can and cannot do. So, why?

BTW, is the PRO version still lacking those shadows, animations, etc.?
Limitations of the hardware or design choices made. Once you decide baked lighting over dynamic, you have a slew of different challenges and problems to solve.
 
Limitations of the hardware or design choices made. Once you decide baked lighting over dynamic, you have a slew of different challenges and problems to solve.
That's my point. The limitations of the hardware are by now pretty much known (specially if you're a very good developer, as ND, and you already released other titles on the same platform).
 
The question is: why?

Not only developers have known for ages that we gamers notice these kinds of differences (we remember trailers and preview demos, we can even keep videos of it to compare later, downgrades are criticised aggressively...), but also ND has developed a few games before this one, so they perfectly know the machine and what they can and cannot do. So, why?

BTW, is the PRO version still lacking those shadows, animations, etc.?
As long as there will be gullible whales, you will also have bullshots, "in-engine" BS and what not. The entertainment industry is a game of mirrors and appearances.
 
That's my point. The limitations of the hardware are by now pretty much known (specially if you're a very good developer, as ND, and you already released other titles on the same platform).
They may have gone a specific route and decided to double back on it later. It was in development for a long time.

it is a changing living piece of work. We can’t fault them for that. But yea; unfortunate downgrade.
 
Maybe the 2018 quality will be in the PS5 release. ;)
Yeah, maybe, but why do we have to elaborate weird hypotheses instead of being shown truthful stuff? :| For the record, I'm talking about downgrades in general; I don't think it's that horrible in this specific case.

As long as there will be a gullible whale, you will also have bullshots, "in-engine" BS and what not.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Maybe the base PS4 is holding the Pro back after all? You had the demo running on a Pro without any problems in 2018 so at some point ND must found out PS4 base was having trouble running that king of lighting, animation and shading so they dialed back all those to keep everything the same except the resolution. Then with the extra power been made after the downgrade they instead slightly increased the foliage, wet effect etc which are not as power hogging as lighting, shading perhaps?

Also chances are some of those things could definitely be artistic decisions. The volumetric light intensity is more subdued in some areas in the final build but overwhelmingly strong in others, so is the fog effect. Wet shader is also applied very differently between the builds.
1xxjec.jpg

2zbjoh.jpg

Animation and skin shaders are definitely downgraded so is shadow casting light sources.
 
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hmm.. spent more time watching the animations, actually reminds me a lot of Ryse Son of Rome.
If you remove the QTE finisher user input so that your last hit becomes the QTE finisher, this is pretty much what I think they did for TLOU2.
The last hit is always a special animation finisher, that I suppose it's going to pick one of them depending on which view point you are facing and they are facing. What environmental things are around, etc.


because the regular hack and slash before that, looks pretty much like a normal action melee.
 
That's some significant differences. Looks like ND went to Ubisoft to ask for their downgrade playbook.
 
The question is: why?

Not only developers have known for ages that we gamers notice these kinds of differences (we remember trailers and preview demos, we can even keep videos of it to compare later, downgrades are criticised aggressively...), but also ND has developed a few games before this one, so they perfectly know the machine and what they can and cannot do. So, why?

BTW, is the PRO version still lacking those shadows, animations, etc.?

The tale grows in the telling.

There needs to be aesthetic consistency across the entire game and if a scene or level - which may have been added relatively late in development - chokes the engine, it makes sense to tone down the causes.
 
Yeah, maybe, but why do we have to elaborate weird hypotheses instead of being shown truthful stuff? :| For the record, I'm talking about downgrades in general;
It'll be a case of something between deliberate overselling and just over-reaching. The UC4 60 fps trailer was a target that overreached.

We'll likely never know, unless someone provides anonymous insider info.
 
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