Horizon Forbidden West [PS, PC]

[Recop]

Its incosistent, yes. It doesnt change the fact that its the number 1 game on the market in regards to both visual output and the tech underneath it. Ray tracing of course makes an enourmous difference, depending on the game and its implementation. You just need working eyes, marketing has nothing to do with it

The game is far more than inconsistent... you just have to chek out some Youtube videos to see that is very far from being a technical achievement, especially on console : far too much pop up, poor physics, bad animations, etc.

I've never been impressed by this game.

As for ray tracing, it's like resolution to me : it's a good feature but not the most important one.

For instance, i prefer a game running at 1440p with more refined graphics than a 4K game sacrificing a lot for a higher resolution.

If a developer has to limit himself too much for ray tracing, then that might not been the best use of the available resources.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

i think it's useless to compare HZD VS HZFW PS5, the interesting part will be HZFW PS4 VS PS5, because i'm sure on PS4 graphics will be better than HZD.

I think anyone expecting PS4 Forbidden West to look closer in IQ to PS5 Forbidden West than to PS4 Zero Dawn is up for some serious disappointment.

 

[mr magoo]

interesting comment that we are no longer limited by geometry, we can basically add what we want and engine will manage it. That’s what I get from UE and nanite, looking how complex geometry is and how well engine manages it, incredible. I’m kinda shocked that we are there already.

 

[Rootax]

I think anyone expecting PS4 Forbidden West to look closer in IQ to PS5 Forbidden West than to PS4 Zero Dawn is up for some serious disappointment.

They're not very far appart so it's ok. They can easily cut back on some stuff nobody notice in real time.

 

[iroboto]

Anyone thinking this is "barely better" than Zero Dawn is probably filling in the blanks on their memory of the first game.

Check out the timestamped comparisons. It's a generational leap.

It’s a good lift for sure at least on PS5 it is and a good lift even for PS4. While this may not be winner for graphics of the year depending on what else arrives , there is little to be disappointed about especially from fans.

All steps in the right direction at least in terms of progress for this title.

 

[chris1515]

I think anyone expecting PS4 Forbidden West to look closer in IQ to PS5 Forbidden West than to PS4 Zero Dawn is up for some serious disappointment.

The compromise are easy to find lower resolution, worse texture filtering, less geometry, lower texture quality, lower shading quality, lower VFX quality(res particle, lower volumetric cloud res, volumetric lighting res...), no screen space reflection like in HZD, more texture popin, less draw distance, more shadow popin, less object casting shadow, lower LOD quality, less vegetation, lower motion blur and depth of field quality and so on. This is easy to know where they can made the cut.

 

[manux]

It’s a good lift for sure at least on PS5 it is and a good lift even for PS4. While this may not be winner for graphics of the year depending on what else arrives , there is little to be disappointed about especially from fans.

All steps in the right direction at least in terms of progress for this title.

I wonder what game could challenge horizon this year? CP2077 definitely was great last year, but it's not perfect either,... Still haven't played cp2077 properly even though I preordered. I'm waiting for more patches to roll in. Will probably also wait dlc and then play the "finalized" game.

 

[Recop]

interesting comment that we are no longer limited by geometry, we can basically add what we want and engine will manage it. That’s what I get from UE and nanite, looking how complex geometry is and how well engine manages it, incredible. I’m kinda shocked that we are there already.

I really doubt that, because i'm certain we could see some hard edges on close inspection.

But indeed : good geometry + good shaders/textures + virtually no artifacts (dithering, pop up, aliasing, etc.) = what makes a good looking game to me.

Ray tracing is a good bonus, but it doesn't give the wow factor.

The Unreal Engine 5 demo impressed me mainly due to its very impressive geometry, good textures and shaders.

 

[snc]

I wonder what game could challenge horizon this year? CP2077 definitely was great last year, but it's not perfect either,... Still haven't played cp2077 properly even though I preordered. I'm waiting for more patches to roll in. Will probably also wait dlc and then play the "finalized" game.

only ratchet imho but for me horizon is ahead

 

[Recop]

I wonder what game could challenge horizon this year? CP2077 definitely was great last year, but it's not perfect either,... Still haven't played cp2077 properly even though I preordered. I'm waiting for more patches to roll in. Will probably also wait dlc and then play the "finalized" game.

R&C and the next Xbox exclusives.

I only hope that the Serie X is not held back by the Serie S...

 

[pjbliverpool]

The Unreal Engine 5 demo impressed me mainly due to its very impressive geometry, good textures and shaders.

I strongly suspect that a considerable portion of your 'impressedness' came from the lighting. Probably what you are lumping in with shaders above. UE5 uses a form of RT for its lighting and triangle based RT can look even better (at a potential performance cost).

 

[chris1515]

Battlefield 6 will challenge Horizon and Ratchet.

 

[chris1515]

Forza Horizon 5* will be beautiful, same with Flight simulator.

*Maybe the name will only be Forza Horizon

The funny thing HFW is old gen in some aspects like GI lighting, shadow maps(CSM), reflections or LOD management but they improve other aspects geometry, texture quality and shading mainly.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

R&C and the next Xbox exclusives.

I only hope that the Serie X is not held back by the Serie S...

Not that either are holding up their respective games.

But it certainly won't hold it back more than the PS4 is holding back this game. Which is to say that neither PS4 nor XBS-S are holding back PS5 or XBS-X games.

If the developers are any good (I'm assuming that they are), then you target the highest hardware configuration available and then you scale things down for the lower spec'd machines. And if the lower spec'd machine lacks a feature, then it just doesn't have that feature. Games don't need to have graphics/presentation parity across hardware specs.

Regards,
SB

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Water in the rivers has been upgraded significantly from the previous horizon. Also the waves rolling in the ocean and clouds are pretty dang nice. Looks like we also have clouds in lower altitude now. It's just that horizon does a zillion things instead of only one amazing thing. Devil is in details building up the whole.

Will be interesting to see how ps4 and ps4pro handle this title.

Yeah, the water looks really nice in this game. I'm glad they put some focus on it, because the water in HZD was really quite bad. When I first saw the game it stuck out like a sore thumb, most of the rest of the game looked so good ... and then you had that horrible water rendering.

Regards,
SB

 

[Panino Manino]

Most impressive thing was that perfectly round head in the beginning.

The only criticism I have is that the character looks a bit disconnected from the world a lot of the time, like the lighting doesn't quite match up. It's almost like a actor interacting with a green screen projected environment.

Yes, it looks like Aloy "glows" in a way that doesn't always fit with the surroundings. Especially her hair.

I think it's safe to say that during all those little "cutscenes" they are adding a LOT of fathom lights and tweaking the color grading. They main think it looks better this way but personally these sudden changes make it all feels jarring and disconnected, almost like if they where inserting little pre recorded videos amid the gameplay.

But about all the lack of polish, there's still a long way until the launch date.
Remember R&C Rift Apart? Even the last trailers and demons had polishing issues that the devs said they are working to fix before launch. Horizon 2 should have much more work still to be done.

 

[mr magoo]

Forza Horizon 5* will be beautiful, same with Flight simulator.

*Maybe the name will only be Forza Horizon

The funny thing HFW is old gen in some aspects like GI lighting, shadow maps(CSM), reflections or LOD management but they improve other aspects geometry, texture quality and shading mainly.

This year belongs to sony. IMO they did amazing job on delivering high quality games, Demon souls remake, returnal, Ratchet and upcoming Horizon. Beautiful polished high quality games. I don’t see anything from msft that will be released this year that comes even close. The biggest game is probably Halo and after last year shit show this game is more a meme now than a real competition. Maybe Flight simulator if it’s gonna be released this year.

 

[megre]

I do wish they kept her face a bit slimmer.

I think she's fine.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/614551521060847801/847860577220034581/IMG-20210528-WA0026.jpg

 

[Recop]

I strongly suspect that a considerable portion of your 'impressedness' came from the lighting. Probably what you are lumping in with shaders above. UE5 uses a form of RT for its lighting and triangle based RT can look even better (at a potential performance cost).

Indeed.

Anyway, the environment displayed in the demo wasn't especially to showcase ray tracing. I mean the level didn't have any reflection.

Sure ray tracing isn't only about reflections, but it shows its full power with shiny surfaces.

 

[Recop]

No lol + the game is running at 60fps, so it's a hard task.

I rather thought about the game developed by Ninja Theory.

So once again, PS5 currently takes the lead in my opinion, but it's rather because the competition hasn't showed yet.