Star Wars Outlaws [PS5, XBSX|S, PC]

[JoeJ]

Look, the PS5 version is the same !

Great, and i have expected this.
This looks nothing like Avatar, so i guess it's different tech. I speculate they found some way to combine advantages of baked lighting but with dynamic update, which is not too expensive.
RTX 4000$ can stay in the oven, where it belongs to. > But we will see...

 

[techuse]

Great, and i have expected this.
This looks nothing like Avatar, so i guess it's different tech. I speculate they found some way to combine advantages of baked lighting but with dynamic update, which is not too expensive.
RTX 4000$ can stay in the oven, where it belongs to. > But we will see...

It’s the same engine. Massive is making both games using Snowdrop.

 

[JoeJ]

It’s the same engine. Massive is making both games using Snowdrop.

Does not mean they use the same methods for both games. It really looks different.
Avatar: Very artificial look. Over saturated colors, too much contrast coming from a lack of GI, causing dark areas. Indirect areas also look greyish, lacking color bleeding. SSAO causes even more ugly blacks, and reflections look washed out. It's also noisy.
Outlaws: None of these issues. Looks natural and like baked. But it also lacks dynamics of indirect lighting. E.g. opnening a door seen from the inside, the ground below does not light up. Some lighting seems off, e.g. squirrel below the table shows blue lighting from a nearby source, but there is no source. Blue color matches the crystal which is on the table so occluded. We also see abrupt changes in lighting pretty often. Looks like hard switch between spatial probes, or because probes get an update.
The issues are very subtle and hard to notice. I'm not sure about anything and that's just guesses. Could be completely static baked, baking at runtime, some mix of both, some dynamic enhancements, idk.
If Avatar uses the same lighting tech indeed, then Outlaws got way better artists. But the difference seems too technical.

 

[chris1515]

Does not mean they use the same methods for both games. It really looks different.
Avatar: Very artificial look. Over saturated colors, too much contrast coming from a lack of GI, causing dark areas. Indirect areas also look greyish, lacking color bleeding. SSAO causes even more ugly blacks, and reflections look washed out. It's also noisy.
Outlaws: None of these issues. Looks natural and like baked. But it also lacks dynamics of indirect lighting. E.g. opnening a door seen from the inside, the ground below does not light up. Some lighting seems off, e.g. squirrel below the table shows blue lighting from a nearby source, but there is no source. Blue color matches the crystal which is on the table so occluded. We also see abrupt changes in lighting pretty often. Looks like hard switch between spatial probes, or because probes get an update.
The issues are very subtle and hard to notice. I'm not sure about anything and that's just guesses. Could be completely static baked, baking at runtime, some mix of both, some dynamic enhancements, idk.
If Avatar uses the same lighting tech indeed, then Outlaws got way better artists. But the difference seems too technical.

This is maybe because the one demo run on PS5 and the other on a high end PC. Maybe Avatar don't use SSAO on PC but RTAO for example. I think it will be better to wait to compare the two games on the same hardware.

Don't forget the 4090 will probably keep a performance advantage compared to a...PS6.

 

[Shortbread]

Look, the PS5 version is the same !

playstation buttons prompts !

Ye ole overlay trick on same footage. More than likely, all the console button prompts are overlays on PC footage.

 

[JoeJ]

This is maybe because the one demo run on PS5 and the other on a high end PC.

You think the video posted by PlayStation was recorded from a high end PC?
Possible. There is no 'running on PS5' overlay as usual.
However, replacing SSAO with RTAO would not change much regarding the vastly different look.

 

[chris1515]

You think the video posted by PlayStation was recorded from a high end PC?
Possible. There is no 'running on PS5' overlay as usual.
However, replacing SSAO with RTAO would not change much regarding the vastly different look.

I just speak about your example, they don't use SSR and probably use RTGI too.

 

[Nesh]

The graphics look great, the gameplay on the other hand, is lacking something...
Of course the game is at least a year away, and that's enough time to tighten those mechanics.
For now, I'm positively interested.

I think the animations are the big problem. Everything is super detailed while the animations and physics on the other hand are very stiff and stick out like a sore thumb in contrast to the realistic visuals. Thats why the gameplay segments look very bland and uninteresting.

 

[Seanspeed]

I think the animations are the big problem. Everything is super detailed while the animations and physics on the other hand are very stiff and stick out like a sore thumb in contrast to the realistic visuals. Thats why the gameplay segments look very bland and uninteresting.

I think the animations are generally quite good by any normal AAA standard, but obviously fall short of something like a modern Naughty Dog game.

You're right that it sticks out more though, simply cuz everything else looks so incredible.

 

[JoeJ]

I just speak about your example, they don't use SSR and probably use RTGI too.

Yeah, i don't wanna argue either.
I use SSAO or noise artifacts only as a hint towards a probe based approach vs. a pixel based approach.
The stability but abrupt changes of Outlaws seems the former, while Avatar more looks like the latter. Time will tell.
Just to be clear about, i assume it's raytraced no matter what. I don't say RT is useless, but i do say a huge 4090 should not be needed to achieve those visuals, and it should not be needed for gaming in general.
And i assume any sane developer thinks the same, because we won't get such power for affordable prices anytime soon.
Thus i also assume they do only show visuals which (at least) feel doable on consoles too to them, within some margin of 'downgrade'. At least i hope so.

I think the animations are the big problem. Everything is super detailed while the animations and physics on the other hand are very stiff and stick out like a sore thumb in contrast to the realistic visuals. Thats why the gameplay segments look very bland and uninteresting.

Exactly what i think too.
I wish i could finish my work on lighting and geometry quickly, so i could continue research on robotic ragdolls more seriously.
If that's not the next big thing in gaming, then i don't know what else could help us.
Ubisoft does a lot of related research. They always get a lot of rant about their repetitive formula, but i believe in them. France often was a source of innovative killer games, so who knows...

Personally i have a phase of being bored from games every ten years, if i look back. And right now it's really bad.
That's usually the time before suddenly some killer game comes up, building up motivation and inspiration again.
The ship feels like sinking, but i expect the rise of a new one to fill the gap. And likely it's more than just being bigger and more of the same old things.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Well it's Ubisoft so you're basically playing the same games since the release of Assassin's Creed.

Yeah I'm watching this going, "Please, please, please don't be a UBIsoft forumla open world game because there's finally a modern Star Wars game where I may not have to play a Jedi."

Regards,
SB

 

[milk]

Watching this, the whole thing reminded me of the first Beyond Good and Evil, and I thought "Hey, thus feels more like that game than the in development sequel they've demoed a couple times"

As the demo went on, it started having more and more elements of BGn'2. To the point I started to think this IS that game. Or rather, they've refactored that game into this. And looking it up online, I'm not the only one to have gotten that impression...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1668329912544145409

 

[cheapchips]

New trailer:

And the narrative dev talking about the trailer (waste of time unless you're very excited about the story):

 

[trinibwoy]

I must be getting old but these days I definitely care about the story as much as anything else. For me it’s probably

1. Graphics
2. Story
3. Gameplay

 

[techuse]

It’s a Ubisoft game. I wouldn’t expect the story to be well told or integrated into the game.

 

[pjbliverpool]

New trailer:

And the narrative dev talking about the trailer (waste of time unless you're very excited about the story):

It looks great and clearly up there with the best of today, but the character modelling leaves quite a lot to be desired next to the likes of Hell Blade 2, Marvel 1942 or even current games like Alan Wake 2 and Horizon FW.

 

[Tkumpathenurpahl]

I must be getting old but these days I definitely care about the story as much as anything else. For me it’s probably

1. Graphics
2. Story
3. Gameplay

Haha I'm exactly the opposite: the older I get, the less I care about the game's story.

I think it's because they're almost universally shit ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Johnny Awesome]

And yet still better than the actual movies.