cheapchips
Veteran
PBR materials at least were essentially solved across Gen9. That's part of the issue with this gen defining itself.
Assassins Creed Shadows
- Thread starter cheapchips
- Start date
PBR materials at least were essentially solved across Gen9. That's part of the issue with this gen defining itself.
Lots of games claim PBR but the quality varies widely. In those Shadows screenshots the material variety doesn’t really stand out to me. Metal vs leather vs cloth still look a bit samey.
I would strongly disagree with this. Material quality varies significantly among the top games. They pale in comparison to the best examples we have today when looking at UE5 engine demos and other such media. Material quality still has a long way to go before it can be considered solved.
cheapchips
Veteran
That's why I used 'across the generation'. I don't think it's consistently brilliant across all gen 9 titles (or gen 10). We're used to the fidelity it provides at a broad level.
Isn't gen 9 the current one? Regardless, I would say the best materials we have in any available game are far from what I would consider solved. The AC screenshots would be about the average quality you would have expected from a random PS4 game so I can agree we are used to the level of fidelity shown.
cheapchips
Veteran
Ah, pants. Knew I should have stuck with PS4bone!
RTGI is doable on a PS4?
I've said it before, but I think people's standards have gone up significantly without them realizing it. I had a moment last year where I saw the Matrix demo again and wasn't as impressed by it as I was the first time I saw it. And I realized my basis for comparison had definitely been adjusted, having seen more of what 'next gen' can do by then, making the demo still look good, just not as jaw dropping as before.
Easy to forget what flatter lighting, inconsistent shader quality, lower resolutions, draw distances, character models and whatnot, all existed as a combination of factors that will separate last gen from this gen.
If those screens were released back in 2019 or something, people would have said they were fake cuz they're an incredibly obvious leap up from what games looked like then.
Double checking my pantry right now to see if those antacid tablets were actually crazy pills.
I was talking about material quality specifically. That said, there is very marginal difference between the promo shots of Valhalla.
I’m not concerned with whatever tech buzzwords marketing throws around. The final output is all that matters.
Frenetic Pony
Veteran
It's a general all around improvement, even if it doesn't meet the standards of UE5/Snowdrop/etc.
Materials wouldn't be a very big priority for this team, with "energy preserving" (make sure it's bright enough/doesn't "lose" energy) materials (creeping in since last gen) we've basically finished with anything that's not a close up of something complex (other than anti-aliasing/material LOD). And AC is a distant camera third person action game, they don't need to worry about that first part most of the time.
I would say from the extra screenshots it's plausible at least that this could run on Switch 2 @720p or so. Notice the end of the CG trailer does not have the usual "Supported Platforms" list.
Materials wouldn't be a very big priority for this team, with "energy preserving" (make sure it's bright enough/doesn't "lose" energy) materials (creeping in since last gen) we've basically finished with anything that's not a close up of something complex (other than anti-aliasing/material LOD). And AC is a distant camera third person action game, they don't need to worry about that first part most of the time.
I would say from the extra screenshots it's plausible at least that this could run on Switch 2 @720p or so. Notice the end of the CG trailer does not have the usual "Supported Platforms" list.
I can’t see RTGI in those stills. I only know it’s there cause the devs said so.
Not in my case. I’m currently playing PS3 and PS4 era games so I have a solid baseline for comparison. I’ve definitely not forgotten what low poly flat lighting looks like as I’m currently immersed in it.
You’re right that some less noticeable things will consume hardware resources like draw distance, number of characters on screen etc. But those things are hard to appreciate without side by side comparisons. In isolation though the materials and lighting on the characters in those screenshots aren’t jumping out as something not possible last gen.
Looks in some places much much better than older AC games due to improved lighting, density, hair rendering and character models.
I am not an AC fan. For me, the previous titkes didn't look up to date graphically but judging by the video this one is much better. Visually, perhaps one of the best games of the year. I'm still missing penumbra and there are too many shadow artefacts that are standard for raster shadows.
I am not an AC fan. For me, the previous titkes didn't look up to date graphically but judging by the video this one is much better. Visually, perhaps one of the best games of the year. I'm still missing penumbra and there are too many shadow artefacts that are standard for raster shadows.
Last edited:
cheapchips
Veteran
Visually, what comparable open worlds with similar scope do you think are doing it better?
We don't know how big this map is, but Forbidden West beats this on all fronts and that's a mildly enhanced PS4 title.
The combat looks king of janky.
I'm playing Ghost of Tsushima right now, and I didn't see anything that would make me want to play this instead...
I can't comment on the graphics, since the low bitrate youtube videos are not helping at all.
It doesn't look bad though.
I'm playing Ghost of Tsushima right now, and I didn't see anything that would make me want to play this instead...
I can't comment on the graphics, since the low bitrate youtube videos are not helping at all.
It doesn't look bad though.
Last edited:
cheapchips
Veteran
I haven't played HFW, but it's map is around 2/3 the size Valhalla's. As much as that's a measure of anything!
As far as I know HFW doesn't feature towns with the same scope of Valhalla? Or sea battles? Or big raids with what seems like an epic battle kazoo playing in the background.
Haven’t played FW either but Valhalla did not have sea battles. That was Odyssey.
While Horizon has PlayStation 4 lighting, AC Shadows is supposed to get GT Global Illumination which makes a big difference and brings lighting into a new generation. See Avatar.