2017 Best Graphics

Hellblade has a great character model in Senua, no argument there. Also some very cool lighting.

I still give it to Horizon overall. I don't like analyzing individual components of shots (fire in this shot is too bloomy, whatever). I'm not a tech guy, so I don't think that way. I think you lose the forest for the trees. I just appreciate nice visuals, and Horizon has lots of them.

Part of my preference is the world itself. I love spending time there. Can't say the same of Hellblade, lol.

My runner up would probably be a toss-up between Hellblade and Cuphead.
 
VFX_Veteran said:
03CA5EE11BB58D268DBF08D3EB8D98E73DEF1C0D


Another natural lighting shot that literally blows any other lighting away by the use of an offline renderer GI renderer (i.e. Enlighten). The light bounce around from the scene and the shadowing makes the image 'lure' the users eyes in the right areas of brightness and darkness.

In HZD (and practically every other game), you don't have this mix of proper light propagation and falloff. Everything is taking light from standard GI probes that add way too much ambient into the shading.

B88D2EC180E6151DDB9797025EA16BE867D1157A


Nothing comes even close to this face in realtime (this is NOT photo-mode). She is littered with detail in all areas. Her skin shader shows light scattering and falling off, the tint on the edge of her nose proves this. Her eyelids aren't bleeding out light and her mouth has the proper colors for lipstick on pink.
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lol
 
VFX_Veteran said:
BF501DDE9D1BE6D33491599300D015820717E54E


I VERY good example of light propagation and how it falls off non-linearly. There just simply isn't enough energy in the hallway to light every brick wall looking down. And even her outfit has several areas of dark under the light. This is the most realistic lighting I've seen in a game. And it makes a world of difference in the image quality.

Contrast wtih HZD:
vBiba9x.jpg


There is way too much brown from the sky even around areas that the bricks should be blocked out from light outside. This proves their technique for lighting global illumination needs some work.
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One has color the other doesn't.
These pics are proving you wrong... continue on :)
 
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VaLLiancE said:
One has color the other doesn't.
These pics are proving you wrong... continue on :)
Click to expand...

Valliance, you know I've got several years of experience making good shaders and renders. You are just trolling me by making these generalized sweeping statements. I don't have time to type all of the things technically in a picture. Now I'm working in the realtime industry and these guys want me to make everything look better. I just have to come up with the way of doing that. 3D occlusion is definitely something everyone should adopt. I have more ideas as well. but anyhoo..
 
VaLLiancE said:
Obvious answer is somethings wrong with your TV.
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It's not 720p, it's actually above 1080p. Looks like a shrunken "FauxK" picture. Fact is though, Alloy was an ugly misshapen freak of a kid. I was taken aback when I played that section.

aEnCq0M.png
 
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pravus said:
It's not 720p, it's actually above 1080p. Looks like a shrunken "FauxK" picture. Fact is though, Alloy was an ugly misshapen freak of a kid. I was taken aback when I played that section.

aEnCq0M.png
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Thanks Pravus, not sure why he is getting his panties all in a bunch. The image size is not 720p as you and I have confirmed. It's from the PS Pro's sharing feature. 2048x1152

View media item 1414
 
I thought this was an interesting comparison. Obviously both games are going for very different asthetic styles. It's a toss up in many ways, imo. The lighting in ACO is definitely more realistic, and the world more physical and interactive.

 
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Frozpot said:
I thought this was an interesting comparison. Obviously both games are going for very different asthetic styles. It's a toss up in many ways, imo. The lighting in ASO is definitely more realistic, and the world more physical and interactive.

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Horizon smokes it.
 
VaLLiancE said:
Horizon smokes it.
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Not unexpected from you. I disagree. I've put plenty of hours into both. Horizon is more hit you in your face, perhaps, but ACO has a much more realistic lighting scheme. Not to mention greater draw distances and scale. ACO is subtler and slower. In-town experiences are superior in ACO in many ways. Water, actual TOD transitions are superior as well. Horizon's IQ is a big plus, but the 4k ACO will not have the softness of the Base models. ACO also has more physical world interactions.
 
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Frozpot said:
I thought this was an interesting comparison. Obviously both games are going for very different asthetic styles. It's a toss up in many ways, imo. The lighting in ASO is definitely more realistic, and the world more physical and interactive.

Click to expand...

ASO smokes it.
 
Hedon said:
ASO smokes it.
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Yes and no. Like I said, they each do different things better than the other. Much of it comes down to style and preference. I think Horizon looks great, but it never quite sucked me into the world like ACO does. Much of that has to do with interactions, though. HZD is easy to pick because the whole thing lacks subtlety.
 
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I can't wait to get this game in 4k. (photomode, but no filters aside from a bit of DOF)

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5697907a-81fc-4126-a489-c74dfac5b2c9_Thumbnail.PNG


37f554c7-8f58-4b30-8336-158f8241582c_Thumbnail.PNG
 
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I also noticed the Tesselation on the ground in ACO. Definitely real geometry and not just a Parallax map...

I've already taken 10 times more pictures in ACO than in Horizon ZD.
 
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Well, if threads like this prove anything, it's that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A trivial question: shouldn't it be ACO, not ASO?
 
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