That is true, but that is true also for PS4 generation. And PS3 was much more powerful to PS2 than PS4 to PS3. Maube because of that PS4 graphics is better than PS3's but not so much better that PS3 graphics compared to PS2's. And PS2 level of graphics to PS1 was a super huge jump.
I wouldn't talk PS4/Xbone because it's way too early.
However PBR was NOT a "checklist feature" of the Nv47 based RSX, nor was it from CellBE yet some of the later cycle PS3 games use that due to dev skills.
MLAA wasn't even on the radar until it was either rumored or officially demonstrated...hence the PlayStation 3 hasn't gotten a lot of credit for those "impossible features" and there's other reasons with that gen being split up by online multiplayer games versus the predominantly single player campaigns of the PS2 generation where imo computing cycles weren't spent on sharing space with network code...but that's my humble opinion...not a debate...I feel that could have been curved had they pre-determined (planned) for 2007/08 process nodes, GPUs and RAM increase...probably SATAII and 6X Blu Ray drives...for overall two to three times the power efficiency and thruput.
While it is true that PS1 to PS2 was a big jump...imho I feel that Ken Kutaragi was planning more but his hand was forced by Sega's jumping the shark with their not so tight lipped Black Belt, Dural, Katana projects...there's controversial problems with that generation because people forget what it was like when Sega leaked information.
Years earlier, in an interview with print magazine. Ken Kutaragi was projecting a potential "PlayStation next" in ten years (circa 1995) this is interpreted from the mind of an engineer and how he may have seen hardware coming.
Also the PS2 hardware board was practically engineering sample final by at least late 1998 because it was revealed in early 1999 by a company with no confidence that it was gonna be a hit because rival hardware was already out and might have built a base. Sony was basically waiting for a die shrink to have simplified cooling solution...otherwise it would have been PS3 loud in theory.
Different decisions could have been made if PS2 was instead prepped for a 2000 reveal an late that year launch or 2001...however despite the "flaws" in the PS2 hardware...most of the PS1 development was based on working with what they had...Namco even abandoned their expensive Arcade boards and games like SoulCalibur and Tech Romancer were actually developed on that PS1 based Arcade board.
The problem with Dreamcast (or one of the major ones) was that it was easier to dev for...while PS2 did have a rep for being complex (another thing people forget) that later on became fully documented.
Jumping to PS3 seemed at the time (from initial presentations and PC GPU presentations in the years preceding) that a huge list of capabilities, effects, etc were gonna be possible which they were but resolution resources, lighting systems, the lack of a higher number of nearly platform specific engine games and online multiplayer taking up resources just started taking up slices of the pie chart.
That and the dwindling number of Arcade board based games and multiplatform games which aim for "parity" or nearly platform agnostic "look" (no disrespect to devs and corporate interests) held back the overall potential of that generation.
There were still some major advances in PS3 but it's different than just thinking that "PS2 had better throuput..." the pervasive intention with CellBE was Sony wanted 65nm and that's engineering ideology not marketing and boardroom analyst demands. Even if CellBE didn't reach 4.0Ghz, at 65nm it would have been at least 3.8Ghz, cooler, less wattage and higher yields at the fab...less costly.
This is just one area where Microsoft didn't seem interested in technology instead of being first.
Can you name some, please.
It's gonna be a matter of taste and understanding because these are videogames outside the western defined norms which usually means fps/tps with bald bland bad ass avatar.
Kidou Senshi Gundam The One Year War by the merger of Namco Bandai produced a game that had some advanced features for that type of game...during the space mission Sparkling Space some bloom like effects are displayed...I could be wrong but this is from playing with SVHS cables on a CRT TV... Ultraman Fighting Evolution Rebirth (the last two games) had some amazing looking lighting effects during special attacks. And there's others I can't recall right now but many were made specifically for the PS2 hardware and despite being related to an "anime franchise" which displeases gamers used to general audience videogames...games like the Sega-AM2 SDF Macross (which was made on System 246 aka Arcade version PS2 board.
There is a curious theory about time too because although initially many PS2 games didn't match huge budget Shenmue and Code Veronica the problem is that Shenmue was made by top dev team at the time...lots of pre-planning on Saturn then shifting to DC...lots of $$ to dev...there may have been a diminishing returns backlash where devs felt the "gamer media apathy" and gamer apathy along with buying practices of the time.
Does it was with better graphics than Virtua Fighter 4?
There was at least four versions of Virtua Fighter on PlayStation 2. SEGA-AM2 IIRC reprogrammed Virtua Fighter 4 on a CD-Rom and early Sega effort tools...although the game had the gameplay...it suffered in the visual effort when compared to Tekken.
There was a Virtua Fighter 1 Anniversary Edition which I felt could have been better even for flat shaded polygons compared to the Arcade original. There was a Sega Ages Virtua Fighter 2 which was a different port team iirc and suffered...was not a good look to Sega's people being aware of how many PS2s sold in Asia but there's other things like perhaps not wanting a perfect version for fear of losing attendance (allegations made by yours truly) which was a bad move for the time.
Then Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution which iirc sold at full price in Japan and was somehow sold as a greatest hits in the U.S./North America region.
Having played all Sega Virtua Fighter at the arcades...I was/am a graphics snob...while VF4 was a crap visually, VF4Evo was like magic...like holy crap they nearly got so close visually.
Sega suffered from not prioritizing all their games on PS2 at the time based on (Japanese install base) where they could have rapidly rivaled Namco in home-Arcade versions which Namco was king of.