"Games won't get better than this!"

[Bhazor]

Ok, one for this thread in 20 years.

What's the game you think has the best looking graphics from the last year or 2? And at what point do graphics get pointlessly better?

Possibly Nioh. That demon dimension effect never gets old.

But honestly current gen is looking pretty old now. I haven't been blown away by a game graphically in a long time. You can see the same limitations in almost every game you look at. Low to high poly model pop in, jaggies, flat textures etc all the classic signs of the Unreal engine. But I think the thing that will really stand out though is how awful rag dolls are. It seems so simple to fix them by just having corpses freeze once after a second or two but no one does and every game is littered with these atrocious spasming corpses. Gaming is overdue the next big leap in tech and my money is on the next big leap being some kind of next generation procedural animation.

[Ferris]

Last game I was astonished by was Red Dead Redemption. That sky, that rain, those deserts. Wow.

Fuck me that was 10 years ago? Nothing since then I can remember.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

What's the game you think has the best looking graphics from the last year or 2? And at what point do graphics get pointlessly better?

Crap though it might be, The Order 1886 was the first game of the current generation that looked like a real leap beyond the previous one. There's still room for improvement (e.g. that Andy Serkis thing I posted earlier) but I'm not sure it's necessary. If The Order's level of graphics could be maintained, but with more realistic physics, larger crowds etc. I think that would be a fine thing.

[Bhazor]

Yeah The Order 1886 has a very impressive proprietary engine but also a very shit developer. Which means that engine is probably going to sink with the company.

Here is their follow up made in that gorgeous engine.



https://www.gamerpros.co/deformers-review-xbox-one/

[biggytitbo]

Immersion has a lot to do with how good games look, that's why the old games you remember playing look a lot better in your mind than they do when you fire them up again and actually play them.


The current crop, the best looking ones (that I've played) are Rise of the Tomb Raider, Battlefield One, Hitman, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Hellblade, GTA5, Resident Evil 7, Deux Ex Mankind Divided and Just Cause 3.

[Ferris]

I thought Battlefield 1 looked a bit shit actually. Clunky textures that looked like nothing once you got up close.

I don't remember a game (after Red Dead) that impressed me graphically.

[QRDL]

Nothing really impressed me since The Witcher 3. It was an overall good looking game, but two areas were exceptional: the way different types of terrain flowed naturally into each other and the textures for leather and textiles. Those textures somehow showed more information than should be possible in FullHD resolution.
Recently Hunt: Showdown shows promise, but the way SSR fuck up when there's an object close to the camera spoils the overall effect. I'm not even sure if it's possible to avoid these glitches when using this technique because I see it everywhere: FFXV benchmark, Far Cry 5. In Hunt: Showdown it's especially noticeable, because there's shallow water everywhere.

[Noodle Lizard]

I don't know if I'd ever have said they wouldn't get better, but Max Payne was the first game that came to my attention (age 10 or so) where I thought "Wow, there is literally no chance this won't be the best game ever", having seen it in PC Gamer magazine or whatever, images like this specifically:


(being 10, I didn't fully grasp that promo images probably aren't reflective of actual gameplay)

I didn't get to actually play it for another year or so because it wouldn't run on my family's computer, but even when I finally did play it, I thought it was about as good as it got.  It was definitely my top-of-the-echelon as far as gaming accomplishments went.
Looking back on it now, it's ropey as fuck of course.  The sequel holds up remarkably well, though.

Perfect Dark has a similar place for me - a game I held to be the pinnacle of all human endeavour, basically unplayable now.

[Noodle Lizard]

Life is Strange pretty much nailed verisimilitude in its dialogue for me, but then all these old people told me I was wrong :(((

For what it's worth, I'm in my mid-20s and the dialogue had me physically wincing.

[NoSleep]

The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening

It was the first Zelda I played (on the Gameboy) and no other Zelda has topped it for me. It doesn't matter to me what graphics you added to the mix (with almost any game for that matter), until the controllers we use are radically updated, all games are basically defined by their limitations.

[Shay Chaise]

Very interesting discussion and one I was debating with a mate very recently. He feels that he never wants to play another game with a joypad because the returns have diminished to the point where he doesn't give a shit any more. I came at it from the angle that original design is not dependent on the tools and that essentially the same controller has given us Dark Souls, GT Sport, Street Fighter 4 and Mario Odyssey. I also made the point that depth and variety of mechanics is now engine-based rather than linked to the number of buttons.

Interesting discussion, though.

[kngen]

Fifa 95 on the Megadrive. Something so joyous about the little cartoon sprites, yet sophisticated enough to convey the thrill of a beautifully curved shot into the top right corner. The next year saw EA begin a clunky slog into joyless 3D realism with barely any of the charm of its predecessor. Therefore, I didn't really engage with new football games until ISS (and of course Pro Evo) superseded Fifa, and only returned to the EA fold about five years ago.

[imitationleather]

I'm still yet to be convinced that FIFA ever bettered the '98 one with all the World Cup qualifying. It just felt so huge as a game. Same with Gran Turismo when I first played it. An amount of cars and tracks that just seemed silly to somehow be contained within one disc.

[Mister Six]

I'm just going to butt into this thread to say it's interesting how there's a load of discussion about games fifteen or twenty years old but threads on new releases are DOA.

Do most folk not play newer games, perhaps? Apologies for the meta/state of the boards, I've been thinking about it for a while though.

I might just be projecting here, but I think the difference (other than this being about whole eras rather than specific games) is the amount of time most people on this board have available now.

I think it's fair to say that when the PS1 came out most people on here were in school, uni or their early twenties - ie they had free time and a disposable income (or access to one).

Now a lot of us have time-intensive jobs, relationships, kids, pets, and so less time and cash to invest in playing and completing a wide range of games. For me, definitely, it's more about picking something that I'm sure I'll enjoy, then plodding through it in fits and starts over months around other things.

Anyway, last game to really dazzle me was probably Witcher 3 with its weather effects. I don't think any other game has captured the sunny drizzle as storm clouds part quite so perfectly - if at all.

[Ferris]

I'm still yet to be convinced that FIFA ever bettered the '98 one with all the World Cup qualifying. It just felt so huge as a game. Same with Gran Turismo when I first played it. An amount of cars and tracks that just seemed silly to somehow be contained within one disc.

Was that the one with Blur's song #2, and that dodgy techno over the loading screens? I can still hear that music now as I type this. Lovely "zoooom" sound effects when moving to the next setup screen.

[spamwangler]

Bump mapping wasn't new in Crysis. I think I first noticed it in Halo back in 2001, or whenever it was.
I think graphical progress has slowed a bit in the last decade or so. Bloodborne for example doesn't look that far removed from The Batman Arkham games on the previous generation. Bump maps, Phong shaders and whatnot do a lot of the work of making things look flash, so adding more polygons doesn't have as big an impact as it used to. I suppose this could be as much to do with with budgets as processing power though.

Then again, there's this.  I don't know what hardware it's running on, but it is apparently in real time.

just to fix that link for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkkWCmljMSA

also that properly terrifying

[imitationleather]

Was that the one with Blur's song #2, and that dodgy techno over the loading screens? I can still hear that music now as I type this. Lovely "zoooom" sound effects when moving to the next setup screen.

The very one. I would love to play it now, but I don't have a PlayStation and I'm almost certain it'd be awful.

Taking the Faroe Islands to World Cup glory is hard to top, though.

[Z]

I'm still yet to be convinced that FIFA ever bettered the '98 one with all the World Cup qualifying. It just felt so huge as a game.

That's the first one after EA raided the Actua Soccer team? At least according to Kim Justice EA done that around then.

Having been just slightly too young to fully appreciate the emergence of 3D games, I remember playing Burnout Legends on the PSP in 2005 and being blown away by how close it was to the PS2 games that had only just came out. The PSP overall was very much a "I won't see an abrupt leap forward like this again" and it blinded me a bit to the cutbacks criterion done.


To some extent I still feel like games won't match the storytelling in MGS either. The medium has come along loads since then but that whole game had me so engrossed and entertained, with just the right amount of ridiculousness to ensure it ages charmingly, I struggle to imagine one drawing me in as much.
...and don't get me started on demos, there will never be a demo that sells a game as well as MGS again (in part because they're less of a thing now), it was a pretty fun demo, felt much more generous than most demos too, and it ended with an absolute belter of a cliffhanger.

[Golden E. Pump]

Silent Hill 2 blew me away, and graphically I still think it stands up 15 years-or-so later.

Final Fantasy 7 is a sublime piece of art. Compelling gameplay, probably the best set of characters in a video game, emotionally gripping with a story that's genuinely great.

I think recently, The Last of Us has a truly great story. Uncharted 4 has some mind-blowing graphics and set-pieces (although personally the series highlight was Uncharted 2). But ultimately, Witcher 3 has absolutely everything and I can't see anything living up to that for a long time.

[Ferris]

The very one. I would love to play it now, but I don't have a PlayStation and I'm almost certain it'd be awful.

Taking the Faroe Islands to World Cup glory is hard to top, though.

I beat France 0-12 with England, smashing stuff. There was one shot type in the box that scored every time (I want to say quick circle-tap pass into bottom corner?) and made the game very easy

[Golden E. Pump]

You could play a full 90 minute game on that version of FIFA. Take that Yugoslavia, I've just beaten you 84-6.

[Ferris]

You could play a full 90 minute game on that version of FIFA. Take that Yugoslavia, I've just beaten you 84-6.

You could set fouls to "off" and let loose the dogs of L1 two-footed tackles. The refs just used to wave play on as Vialli rolled around on the floor, a broken man. Injure enough players and the in-game opposing manager would go mental and put the 3rd choice keeper up front, or move a centre half to take over in goal as long as you remembered to set subs to unlimited to avoid having the match abandoned.

Must play this again somehow.

Edit: just remembered if you went up by a margin of more than 5 (?) the commentators would apologize to the viewers and get a bit cross ("defending is a thing of the past, here... very, very one-sided"), but they said the same thing over and over which is probably why it's improned on me as I heard it 5 or 6 times again as Villa stuffed Arsenal 0-8 or England knocked out Argentina in the World Cup or whatever.

[BeardFaceMan]

Team Fortess 2. I'd never really played multiplayer games on the pc before, just single player stuff. Neil convinced me to buy this the day it came out and I'm glad I did (cheers neil!). It wasnt so much the graphics, even though the cartoon style is pretty ace, it was the gameplay, I'd never had so much fun playing a game online before, I just couldn't see how the online multiplayer experience could get any better.

[imitationleather]

You could set fouls to "off" and let loose the dogs of L1 two-footed tackles. The refs just used to wave play on as Vialli rolled around on the floor, a broken man. Injure enough players and the in-game opposing manager would go mental and put the 3rd choice keeper up front, or move a centre half to take over in goal as long as you remembered to set subs to unlimited to avoid having the match abandoned.

Veering off-topic because I never thought it was a particularly good game, let alone one that would never be bettered, but did anyone play Adidas Power Soccer? I remember that had horrific two-footed tackles built into the game as an actual move. I get the impression that games involving real players wouldn't be allowed to have stuff like that now. It's like Ultimate Soccer Manager '98 where you could bribe other managers and players to throw matches and take bungs and whatnot.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

You could set fouls to "off" and let loose the dogs of L1 two-footed tackles. The refs just used to wave play on as Vialli rolled around on the floor, a broken man. Injure enough players and the in-game opposing manager would go mental and put the 3rd choice keeper up front, or move a centre half to take over in goal as long as you remembered to set subs to unlimited to avoid having the match abandoned.

Must play this again somehow.

Edit: just remembered if you went up by a margin of more than 5 (?) the commentators would apologize to the viewers and get a bit cross ("defending is a thing of the past, here... very, very one-sided"), but they said the same thing over and over which is probably why it's improned on me as I heard it 5 or 6 times again as Villa stuffed Arsenal 0-8 or England knocked out Argentina in the World Cup or whatever.

Best risk/reward tactic was to tackle the opposition keeper just as he was taking a drop kick. Too late/or early and you foul the keeper and get sent off; time it right and you get an easy tap in.

Another tactic was to run into your own half with a player then launch a kick forward. The opposition AI would already have swarmed forward and the ball would drop to your striker who was 1-on-1 with the keeper.

Also 5-a-side!

Also you could dive to try and win free kicks!

[Ferris]

Diving to win free kicks was great. Double tap R1 if memory served, but I very rarely got it to work. Is that a feature in modern football games? Probably not I suppose.

[asids]

Diving to win free kicks was great. Double tap R1 if memory served, but I very rarely got it to work. Is that a feature in modern football games? Probably not I suppose.

Actually yes, in the newest PES games, you can dive. Time it right and you can get a foul out of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcAQ1sa9qtE

[Utter Shit]

Ecco the Dolphin on the Sega Mega Drive has astonishingly realistic graphics that I don't think will ever be bettered.

It is quite literally "a dolphin on your television screen".

Ahahahaha

I have a vivid memory of being in Woolworths as a kid and excitedly showing my stepdad the incredibly realistic graphics of the original FIFA on SNES, saying that it was like watching in on the telly.

[Norton Canes]

Like entering another world.

[Utter Shit]

In fairness it is like entering another world. A world with really shit graphics.