Halo 4 does look better than Reach overall but so do many other games. The biggest improvement I see here is the lighting, other than that it's more or less the same as Reach with pros and cons. My biggest issue with the Halo engine is the lack of environment details, I still see low poly geometry, barren landscape, less than stellar texture res and an overall sterile look compared to games like Killzone, Gears and Uncharted. But yeah, one can argue a more openness playing field vs more linear approach.
Halo 4 engine downgrades
- Thread starter antwan
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That's the point. Developers have more control over their engine in games like killzone and more freedom to step up the graphics.
From IGN preview:
What a silly thread.
Most likely the filtering, it's still not great in Halo 4.
You've been corrected about your misconception regarding the geometry in Halo games, just to disappear from the thread, before. Especially everything covenant is fill with curves.
Also you realize every game you listed has it's share of low res textures covered up by detail maps, right?
Most likely the filtering, it's still not great in Halo 4.
You've been corrected about your misconception regarding the geometry in Halo games, just to disappear from the thread, before. Especially everything covenant is fill with curves.
Also you realize every game you listed has it's share of low res textures covered up by detail maps, right?
I agree.
Funny how we discuss other games as trade-offs, but spin this game as downgrades.
From what I seen so far, it looks like 343i is making the right decisions as this looks better than Bungie's Halo Reach.
Prophecy2k
Veteran
Whilst I might disagree with some of the OPs assertions I don't believe there is anything silly about discussing the graphical trade-offs made in Halo 4 to achieve its visual look, in comparison to previous games in the series. I reckon it's rather an interesting topic for discussion, and I wouldn't dismiss it so readily.
Most likely the filtering, it's still not great in Halo 4.
I'm not sure what you're saying here. Are you saying Halo 4 has poor filtering? (I may have missed the sarcasm if there was some)
Would you might enlightening the rest of us as to why you believe ultragpu's conceptions to be false or misinformed? If it's something worthy of discussion and would add to the thread topic?
Better not to get distracted and just stay on topic. We're talking about Halo games, and I think comparing the various game engines and graphical trade-offs that Bungie and 343i have made has some merit. If you disagree, perhaps it better to not bother posting in the thread. Just a thought ;-)
I just find it odd that such a topic needs to be made for a 360 exclusive that's receiving so much praise for it's presentation. As someone else mentioned, every game has it's share of trade offs but we single out this one game? Also I don't think we know enough about the tech of the game to create a thread with such certainty as the OP has.
Also to say that such a discussion could not be done in the official thread for Halo 4 is also silly IMO. The posters there enjoy the series, but they aren't blind or ignorant. If anything, that's nothing more than an excuse to make this thread.
There wasn't any sarcasm. The texture filtering in Halo 4 doesn't look all that great. Textures look great when facing them directly, but turn to blur at extreme angles. You'll have to ask one of the more informed posters here if they are using any AF since I'm not even sure the filtering is as good as it was in Reach. Though different videos may have been taken from different builds because it doesn't always look piss poor.
I'll try to find the older posts. I just recall him making the same claim before and being shot down. Not sure if it was a Halo related thread specifically or one of the more vague game technology threads. You can just look at Halo to see his claim is untrue. The covenant visual design is based on curved surfaces, which you don't get by having extremely low geometry.
I only commented on it because those other games were brought into the topic. Unfortunately I disagree and rarely see a point in comparing different games or engines because they all have different performance requirements. His comparisons really had no merit because they didn't support the point he was trying to make, which is one of the reasons why comparisons in general rarely make sense.
Edit: I'm not trying to ruin the thread as I think any discussion covering the progression of any engine is interesting. It's just the tone started by the OP does not instill much faith that this topic was made with good intentions in mind.
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It seems to be a tradition around the release of a new Halo game for someone to start a thread reminding anyone who will listen just how average Halo is.
From my perspective, I haven't seen much of Halo 4 yet, so I can't really offer an opinion yet. The media released so far looks very good, but I always try to reserve judgment until I see the actual game on my TV.
I don't know but I'm seeing this:
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/30/2329440-h4_spops_sniperalley_firstperson_01_copy.jpg
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/30/2329463-h4_campaign_dawn_firstperson_05_copy.jpg
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/30/2329457-h4_campaign_dawn_establishing_01_copy.jpg
And Reach looks like a 2005 game.
And animations are great too:
Indeed. Looking at the "missing" examples, I'm sure even antwan doesn't really believe what he's peddling.
Can we talk how Halo 4 has some of the best looking particle on consoles? There are certain games that get away with very low res alphas, but Halo ain't one of them. There are certain games that also don't feature AO or HDR, but that should stay aside anyway. If majority of people love the look of the game, than it means developers are doing something right. If it misses some effect seen in other games, but has some that others don't feature its called trade off, not downgrade.
Oh, and I'm glad they removed that motion blur from Reach. It would be great if they had object based mb like the one in Crysis 2, but that one in Reach is hideous. It also doesn't work on your gun when reloading if you are not moving.
Some people mentioned low polygon environment. I'm not exactly sure how again some people can magically guess number of polygons per frame, but than again it doesn't matter. Halo 4 absolutely doesn't look like it is "poly starving". Actually, thats one of the key things developers worked on with this engine (according to tech lead) and the engine that Halo 4 is developed on is AFAIK light pre pass so geometry is processed twice.
For me, Halo 4 has that clean look. There is no need for alot of low res explosions or fog and smoke 3 feet from you, game has distinctive clean artstyle and should stay with that. Cutscenes also looked beautiful, I would guess alot of praise from media comes for that part too.
Oh, and I'm glad they removed that motion blur from Reach. It would be great if they had object based mb like the one in Crysis 2, but that one in Reach is hideous. It also doesn't work on your gun when reloading if you are not moving.
Some people mentioned low polygon environment. I'm not exactly sure how again some people can magically guess number of polygons per frame, but than again it doesn't matter. Halo 4 absolutely doesn't look like it is "poly starving". Actually, thats one of the key things developers worked on with this engine (according to tech lead) and the engine that Halo 4 is developed on is AFAIK light pre pass so geometry is processed twice.
For me, Halo 4 has that clean look. There is no need for alot of low res explosions or fog and smoke 3 feet from you, game has distinctive clean artstyle and should stay with that. Cutscenes also looked beautiful, I would guess alot of praise from media comes for that part too.
Halo 4 Technology Interview: http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/09/21/halo-4-technology-interview
Those ripple effects are present in Halo 4, glimpsed in one of the vidocs, and I'd say water betters Reach. There's also an apparently greater range with bright outdoor areas looking appropriately bright again. Just compare the screenshots XpiderMX posted to similar scenes in Reach, where you'll find noticeably more angular rocks and terrain.
I like Reach and this is an all-round improvement.
I like Reach and this is an all-round improvement.
I mentioned the same thing a while ago and someone thought they toned down the radiance of the lighting effects. Have to admit I liked how it looked in Reach a whole lot more. Was a sight to see all the plasma fire lighting up the area at the night/dark levels.
There is a DF article?
I would sure like to read that, to see if the observations are shared by Richard Leadbetter
edit:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...n-screenshots-dazzle-offer-new-gameplay-clues
"screenshots" < those are not even remotely close to the vidoc2 realtime footage.
edit2: I can't find the DF article, but I can understand that a lot of fans think these are realtime screenshots. If they were, then the developer deserves all the praise indeed, because they severely exceeded the 360 limits in that case.
The anti-aliasing would approach GOW3 levels, which is saying quite a lot.
I would sure like to read that, to see if the observations are shared by Richard Leadbetter
edit:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...n-screenshots-dazzle-offer-new-gameplay-clues
"screenshots" < those are not even remotely close to the vidoc2 realtime footage.
edit2: I can't find the DF article, but I can understand that a lot of fans think these are realtime screenshots. If they were, then the developer deserves all the praise indeed, because they severely exceeded the 360 limits in that case.
The anti-aliasing would approach GOW3 levels, which is saying quite a lot.
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ShadowWolf64
Regular
I don't know what Halo 4 video's you've been looking at but the one's that I've seen show plenty of enviornment details with a well done atmosphere to boot.Every excellent looking game this gen has had their share of low res textures here and there but to frown upon Halo 4 for having it too is a bit silly.
When a game is looking this good, you can tell it truly looks fantastic when we have so many haters trying to downplay H4's visual prowess..Too funny!!!
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