Graphics not improving much over the years...

[spoffle]

Cheers for the views, lots of interesting points.



Disagree, the improvements have been minimal for a long time now. I frankly can't understand how anyone could even begin to claim graphics have improved massively in the space of the last 3-4 years unless they have low expectations to begin with. Alternatively maybe I expect too much.

We're still miles off getting to graphics that are genuinely 'next gen' and look to be on a different level to anything thats been made in past decade.

Sure there are improvements but not significant jumps. It all just feels like minor polishing of what we already have rather than any game changing leaps.

"Next gen" isn't a metric of any kind. It's not subjective that graphics have substantially improved, it's a fact.

You might not be able to see it looking at the games now, but it'll be down to a few things. Your memory of how previous games looked is unreliable. Games always look better in your memories than they actually do. Nostalgia and all that.

The closer games look to reality, they less you will notice the improvements. There are visual cues your brain picks up on that tells it whether something is real or not.

You won't necessarily be able to consciously acknowledge what it is you're seeing or why it looks real, especially if you have no idea what you're looking for.

Things have improved a lot, you might not be able to appreciate it but that doesn't mean there hasn't been massive improvements.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I disagree. There are some stunning games out there. If anything hardware is being held back and hence seems to be 'struggling to keep up'.

 

[Rroff]

sorry but have you seen star citizen? Chris Roberts is pushing pcs to their knees with the graphics in it.

Dunno what it is but I don't find the graphics in Star Citizen quite fool the eye - I know its work in progress and all that but something about their art approach some aspects just break the illusion. Some of the best looking games don't necessarily have the highest res and most advanced graphics they just manage to fool your perception well enough you don't see the uglier bits.

 

[Panos]

I feel like over the past 10 or so years graphics in gaming haven't really evolved much, it's all gone a bit static.

When Crysis first came out in 2006 or whenever it was I felt that in 10 or so years time graphics would be jaw droppingly amazing but in truth they haven't really improved THAT much in those 10 years. A modded Crysis still looks like one of the best games ever made, and it's over a decade old...

I feel like we should be at a stage where even the worst graphics in gaming should be of the standard of games like BF1, Crysis 3 etc. Maybe I'm just expecting too much.

So whats the reason ? consoles with fixed hardware limiting devs ? a general feeling of satisfaction that graphics are good enough and don't need to be pushed to the next level ? Technology not improving at a fast enough rate ?

Genuinely not seen a game in many years that has left my jaw open going 'omg, this is the next level' in terms of visuals.

I know people will say its all about gameplay but this threads for the graphics whores.

Graphics are OK. Gameplay and variety of games is the one tanked.
We only get shooters or racing games these days. Or very linear shooter wanted to be called RPGs. Or very linear forcing you to rush strategy games like XCOM 2.
Even Tropico 5 if compared to tropico 3-4, the latter is rushing you this days not allowing you to play at your own pace.

 

[adolf hamster]

Graphics are OK. Gameplay and variety of games is the one tanked.
We only get shooters or racing games these days. Or very linear shooter wanted to be called RPGs. Or very linear forcing you to rush strategy games like XCOM 2.
Even Tropico 5 if compared to tropico 3-4, the latter is rushing you this days not allowing you to play at your own pace.

i think really there's a balance, i can understand why the majority of graphically amazing games tend to be lacking in either story or gameplay- you've got to make some compromise when making a game, hence why the games known for generally being both graphically impressive with good gameplay and a lengthy storyline like bethesda stuff or gta tend to have such long release cycles.

plus pc gamers are having to contend with consoles, not so much in competition but simply that many studios are trying to please everybody by releasing their games on every available platform hence giving rise to the "console port" or simply games that don't run as well as they should on pc because the developers were too busy getting everything to work on consoles.

perfect example is if you look at naughty dog- imo one of the best console developers who consistently put out really fun games that are also really graphically impressive by console standards, but then they only release on one platform so it stands to reason it's better, same goes for insomniac with the spyro and later the ratchet and clank series- games that are still really fun for an adult to play.

 

[Paul_cz]

I am pretty happy with state of todays graphics. Particularly when I can run everything at 60fps (except console exclusives of course).

 

[Seanspeed]

Anybody who thinks graphics have stalled are clearly just playing low demand games or are getting a bit old and need to maybe visit an optometrist.

Graphics are wild nowadays and they keep getting better every year.

Maybe some of y'all just dont have any sort of eye for graphics at all. I've found that's pretty common among PC gamers who assume they are all informed on graphics cuz they spend big bucks on GPU's and whatnot, but really dont know what they're looking at at the end of the day.

Star Wars Battlefront 2, Anthem, the recently released Hellblade, the new Wolfenstein(seriously, huge improvement over the first), Kingdom Come Deliverance, Metro Exodus - all look to continue to push the boundaries of graphics with modern hardware over the next year or so.

 

[LabR@t]

I prefer stylised graphics over going for photo realistic graphics

 

[Apolloman]

I have just got back into pc gaming after what seems like forever and am suprised by how good some games look graphically.

 

[cheesyboy]

Imagine 5 people stood in front of you. Now double it to 10. It's a very noticeable increase.

Now imagine 1,000,000 people stood in front of you. Then double it to 2,000,000. Can you tell the difference?

That's ^ What's happening with graphics progress.

 

[NeverWinter]

Imagine 5 people stood in front of you. Now double it to 10. It's a very noticeable increase.

Now imagine 1,000,000 people stood in front of you. Then double it to 2,000,000. Can you tell the difference?

That's ^ What's happening with graphics progress.

Good analogy.

 

[adolf hamster]

I prefer stylised graphics over going for photo realistic graphics

if done right it can work quite well, and has the advantage that it doesn't necessarily need quite so much horsepower to look good.

 

[AWPC]

OP it must be you. Go play Rise Of The Tomb Raider start to finish if you cannot see the massive difference in gfx on that then I am stumped! Gfx on PC have made a massive jump in the last few years alone. You need to buy & play the actual games though youtube videos cannot show the massive difference & progress being made every year now. So many new layers of post process filtering & additional techniques being used every year.

Consoles are holding the PC back as games need to make a profit so must target lower spec GPU's but most PC multiplatform releases are a long way ahead of XB1-PS4 versions.

 

[justbeingmiko]

Imagine 5 people stood in front of you. Now double it to 10. It's a very noticeable increase.

Now imagine 1,000,000 people stood in front of you. Then double it to 2,000,000. Can you tell the difference?

That's ^ What's happening with graphics progress.

Really good analogy!!

I took a break away from gaming for a bit and having come back, the difference between games just a few years ago and today amazed me. Far Cry 4 being one that literally took my breath away. I had the same response to that game as I did to the original Crysis game. There is always an element of familiarity that drives us to seek bigger change and not recognise the changes that are there. Gaming might not be changing in quantum leaps as it was, but the improvements are still very much there.

 

[Craig R]

 

[Rezident]

Graphics have improved so much (technically) that plenty of new games can’t seem to perform consistently (or properly at all!) even on high-end hardware.

AI is what has not improved. Remember the AI in half-life? AI today is, seemingly similar. Half-life was 1998! All the talk of AI nowadays, why are the bots still the same? Graphics are clearly better.

 

[Paul_cz]

Graphics have improved so much (technically) that plenty of new games can’t seem to perform consistently (or properly at all!) even on high-end hardware.

AI is what has not improved. Remember the AI in half-life? AI today is, seemingly similar. Half-life was 1998! All the talk of AI nowadays, why are the bots still the same? Graphics are clearly better.

Yep AI has stalled. There is a great article about it from Dan Vavra, director at Warhorse:

https://warhorsestudios.cz/index.php?page=blog&entry=blog_013

 

[Vern1961]

Good analogy.

This.

To take as an example, GTA IV was graphically a huge gain over GTA SA, but GTA V maybe not such an advance over the latter albeit still and does feel a much more realistic and lifelike environment. OTOH I can still play GTA SA and it's great fun and I'm engaging with the story and characters, not the appearance.

And do we actually want fully realised photo realistic graphics in a game? Isn't part of the enjoyment the fact you're interacting in a virtual world which doesn't look quite the same as the real world. Flight Sim is an example of this where "photo realistic" terrain is available to replace the default textures. Looks fine from 10,000 feet but not necessarily as you approach ground level. And as we have seen with Dovetails attempt at Flight Sim World, if you buy in hi-res textures but stretch them over the same mesh and landclass in the previous version, doesn't look much better.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

You need an eye test OP.

This.

The OP quotes Crysis as an example of a game from 10 years ago that wouldn't look out of place today. Two points to that:

• You need to mod it to make it look relevant
• It's about the only example really.

 

[insideline]

I can assure you I don't need an eye test

If anything it's more a case of me having unrealistic expectations/standards.

This.

The OP quotes Crysis as an example of a game from 10 years ago that wouldn't look out of place today. Two points to that:

• You need to mod it to make it look relevant
• It's about the only example really.

1. The mods are just tweaks to lighting files
2. Yes it is one of the few examples but it shows what could be done 11 years ago, I expected bigger leaps from then until now... wrongly it seems.

Imagine 5 people stood in front of you. Now double it to 10. It's a very noticeable increase.

Now imagine 1,000,000 people stood in front of you. Then double it to 2,000,000. Can you tell the difference?

That's ^ What's happening with graphics progress.

Good post, makes sense