Avatar looks visually stunning, my only gripe is that the water looks disjointed from the environment at times in certain scenes. Definitely, has the most impressive foliage that I have seen this generation thus far.
Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2023]
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So can I. It's still not the right response IMO. Note, Andrew said:
He's saying playing a game should be a requirement for a detailed discussion. Do you agree with that, that we should bar anyone from discussing a game until they have played the game they want to talk about?
No, but opinions of people who have played a game should carry a lot more weight in those discussions. I’ve found in general that videos are a poor substitute for the real thing.
People will always have complaints regarding certain aspects of graphics. Yes, Andrew has demonstrated that these trees are not entirely static, especially in the winter location, and they can be destroyed. I appreciate all the evidence and insights he has provided. It's good to know that this static appearance is not a limitation of Ninite nor WPO. However, this doesn't change the fact that in certain locations, the game appears static, with only minimalistic animations, regardless of whether this is a result of artistic decision or performance limitations. There are other UE5 games that appear even more static than ARK. Fortunately, this seems fixable, and the situation should get better once developers learn how to use WPO, build content accordingly, and work around possible performance limitations.
To me, comparing animations is no different from comparing the number of polygons in rocks that were previously discussed here. The rocks in Avatar may be tessellated, featuring all kinds of bumps and crevices, yet if they have a simple shape, they can still appear low-poly and simplistic when viewed from a certain distance. Then, animations have their own level of complexity - how they interact with the environment, how leaves are deformed, etc. It's good that ARK is not entirely static, but its foliage animations still fall short compared to a 17-year-old game like Crysis, in which leaves can properly bend and behave like organic material. So, it's no surprise that people are unimpressed with the mostly static look of its main biome and the somewhat rubbery collisions and physics of its foliage.
Again, I don't disagree. And I'm fine with anyone saying, "I don't think videos do it justice and playing the game, I get the impression that..." Unless you too feel that all discussion of a game should be prohibited by those who haven't played the game, you aren't disagreeing with me.
Maybe a little too strongly worded but it depends on the claims people are making. No one would accept Digital Foundry doing in depth technical analysis from video only, but if they were doing first impressions people would probably accept it as fine.
Analysis from video will always be limited, especially if it’s just gameplay video and not a video with in depth technical analysis of its own.
Silent_Buddha
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I mean, no game for the past 10+ years has had that level of foliage animation and destruction.
It is surprising considering many of the people complaining may have never played Crysis or experienced anything remotely like its foliage animation and destruction.
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SB
davis.anthony
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Silent_Buddha
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Crysis Remastered
I remember there being some technical cut-backs in features from the original in the Remastered version, was the physics kept purely intact?
I never bought it because of those cuts to technical features of the originals, many of which I felt were essential to the experience.
Regards,
SB
If you've seen good videos like DF's beforehand, playing the game yourself gives you a much better insight into the technology. Still it also helps to see it for yourself. Watching gameplay YT-videos doesn't come close to your own experience. However, analysis videos can compress the information well and provide a good starting point.
ARK 2's is technically very impressive and without the UE it wouldn't look nearly as good. Unfortunately, I can't buy and download every game so I had to resort to videos here. From the many videos I've seen I wouldn't put it on a par with an elaborately created Avatar. Perhaps the technical difference is not large. Both are high-end. But artistically they are worlds apart. When I watch ARK 2 videos the environment doesn't grab me. A small team has a much harder time keeping up with a big and very talented studio like Massive when they utilize a large game world. Massive's game worlds were already very detailed in The Division 1 and 2.
ARK 2's is technically very impressive and without the UE it wouldn't look nearly as good. Unfortunately, I can't buy and download every game so I had to resort to videos here. From the many videos I've seen I wouldn't put it on a par with an elaborately created Avatar. Perhaps the technical difference is not large. Both are high-end. But artistically they are worlds apart. When I watch ARK 2 videos the environment doesn't grab me. A small team has a much harder time keeping up with a big and very talented studio like Massive when they utilize a large game world. Massive's game worlds were already very detailed in The Division 1 and 2.
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I personally thought Ark looked more impressive in screenshots than it did in gameplay. Was kind of let down after trying it myself. I think the vegetation density was the most impressive part of it coupled with Lumen lighting in some spots. I never really was in awe with anything I saw, which was not the case with Avatar. I spent tons of time just looking at the micro detail in that game, like the complex multilayered ground coverage or the way bodies of water interact with the environment just to name a few things. I'm sure UE5 is capable of delivering an experience with similar impact but for me personally Ark wasn't it.
D
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Agreed. I decided to impulse buy it yesterday. I was going with PC because 13700k/4090 then realised it wasn't on Steam, so bought it on PS5 instead. It's difficult to comprehend how they got this running at 60fps on PS5, it's utterly WTF. It feels like 2023 is the year when truly visually stunning games making use of current gen consoles began to drop.
Avatar is currently the most impressive RT showcase on consoles on a multiplatform game and with such IQ consistency. I am surprised nobody has ever done an analysis of how they have done it on such modest hardwares. There is not much a difference of quality (only resolution / FPS) vs PC based on that one video vs 4800 GPU and that is really impressive.
Finally gone those awful SSR artifacts are, you can lower the camera and still see the same reflections! That is currently driving me mad playing The Talos Principle 2. How can you ship a game with that? I'd prefer them removing altogether the detailed reflections and instead use some blob reflection, but at least consistent.
Finally gone those awful SSR artifacts are, you can lower the camera and still see the same reflections! That is currently driving me mad playing The Talos Principle 2. How can you ship a game with that? I'd prefer them removing altogether the detailed reflections and instead use some blob reflection, but at least consistent.
@Globalisateur I agree about reflections. I'd prefer lower quality reflections that are consistent then ones that switch between high and low if the switch is obvious.
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I just finished transcribing the interview and handed it off, so I hope it can be published soon. It is about 7K works and a lot of talk is about how they got it working on consoles as an RT showcase. I hope that gives you some insight.
Art from adversity.
It's hard for me to unpack how much of it to attribute to Kojima's direction, some general Japanese/western culture gap, or an age gap in whatever the intended audience is supposed to be. His writing to me comes across as juvenile while aspects of the content seem to lean more adult. Maybe that's simply a byproduct of having singular authorship/direction where a particular person's quirky sensibilities for tone, humor, and intelligence don't get refined via some creative oversight or collaboration.
You forgot the parts that are wholesale lifted from other media (usually films).
I didn't like Hellblade I but Hellblade II seems to be more interesting for me. The last shown material is convincing However, the TGA was very disappointing overall in terms of games.
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I wasn't surprised that he doesn't like the plot of Kojima games. I've already written my opinion on the plot of Death Stranding here. In short: It is bad. Really bad.
Death Stranding (DC) [PS4, PS5, PC]
Confirmation of the PC version of the Directors Cut seemingly leaked here: https://www.dsogaming.com/news/here-are-the-first-studios-that-will-support-intels-xess-ai-driven-upscaling-tech/ And it will feature XeSS! Can't wait for the inevitable Digital Foundry DLSS comparisons :D
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