Which version looks better 2018 vs 2020

  • 2018 is better looking

    Votes: 823 74.2%
  • 2020 is better looking

    Votes: 111 10.0%
  • The look pretty much the same

    Votes: 175 15.8%

  • Total voters
    1,109

Hey Please

Avenger
Oct 31, 2017
22,824
Not America
It's pretty clear, you can see a lot further and see a whole town off in the distance in the 2018 version, in retail you see a lone tower and mist where the town should be.

Okay, so upon seeing it again, I do definitely see the burning structures not being part of the LoD at that distance in retail. That said, It is kind of hard to ascertain the overall draw distance disparity because in E3 ver. the camera is pulled further back revealing body of water in farthest distance, whereas in retail, it looks like additional mountains have taken its place.

In the greater scheme however, certain aspects definitely have been paired back. It will be interesting if DF/NXG do a comparison that is more 1:1 in terms of weather settings and more importantly, NOT at 1080p, the worst choice for resolution when it comes to compression on YT.
 

Team_Feisar

Member
Jan 16, 2018
5,359
Did they have to go with the most unflattering and foggy lighting/weather conditions for the retail version?

I swear the game looks better than that like 90% of the time. Regarding atmosphere as well as draw distance.

Biggest difference to me is that the E3 Demo probably had perfectly designed pre-baked lighting whilenrelease is dynamic. Also, I think the 2018 FoV was wider, giving it a more cinematic Look. Indoor scenes are much better in retail though.
 

Uzupedro

Banned
May 16, 2020
12,234
Rio de Janeiro
Like The Last of Us, the part that suffered the most with downgrade was the lighting.
But it's likely that have parts that have improved in some way(like Tlou2).
 

supernormal

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
3,220
Yikes. It had already been downgraded in its second showing but when you put the same environments side by side it's pretty striking.
 

ken_matthews

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
838
Yes, an obvious downgrade from 2018. The final game is still gorgeous and I think it actually might be better looking than TLoU2. Maybe it doesn't have all the bells and whistles from a technical perspective but I think the overall product looks better than TLoU2. I think it's pretty clear what companies are doing with a lot of the pre-release footage. They showing cutscene level graphics off as if it were gameplay. And then they claim that it's running on a PS4 when it's obvious that it's impossible given what the final games look like. It's deceptive, I don't like it, and it's just one more reason why I don't believe anything these companies show or say before a game is released. I don't know why they keep doing this. The actual game graphics/visuals of TLoU2 and Ghosts of Tsushima still look amazing. Why not just show that to begin with?
 

Yuntu

Prophet of Regret Corrupted by Vengeance
Member
Nov 7, 2019
11,045
Germany
While there is clearly more detail in 2018, its hard to really compare some stuff because the weather conditions/time of day seem different at points. I assume the game has a dynamic cycle?
 

phant0m

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,361
2018 clearly has better detail and draw distance, but I prefer the lighting and color grading in retail so 🤷‍♂️
 

HardRojo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,486
Peru
I think it's the ToD and environment changes that don't favor the retail version at all. Sure, there seems to be a difference, but I feel it's only as obvious because of those design choices, rather than the downgrade itself.
 

Iron Eddie

Banned
Nov 25, 2019
9,812
The fire near the end looks the most different, 2018 has a lot more going on. Was 2018 footage captured on PC?

Damn. This is why I wish games weren't announced until <1 year before their actual release. Vertical slice gameplay is never beneficial.
Sony will never do that on it's big titles, they want to build hype.
 

Kyoufu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,582
I saw comments before I watch the video, expected some Ubisoft shit. Am I blind? This is really not how people say it is.

Watch Dogs and The Witcher 3 are in a league of their own as far as downgrades go. There's a downgrade here but it's nowhere near as drastic as those games were.

The fire near the end looks the most different, 2018 has a lot more going on. Was 2018 footage captured on PC?


Sony will never do that on it's big titles, they want to build hype.

They just announced a sequel to one of their biggest games which is a year from release.
 

Hopewell

Member
Jan 17, 2018
513
Obvious downgrade, just like TLOU2.

I don't really understand why they do that though as the retail versions still look gorgeous.
 

Deleted member 18161

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,805
Much like TLOU II it's lots of little details which overall make quite a large difference if you're an enthusiast when it comes to visuals. The reveal looks more like a PS5 game when it comes to the first half of the video in the OP.

I will never understand why when Sony seem to do this people chuckle and say "calm down no need to get so toxic over graphics" yet when Ubisoft, CDPR, Nintendo or Xbox games are visually downgraded from reveal to launch there are 20 page threads baying for blood.

The final game is astounding looking in it's own right and I'd put it right up there with TLOU II simply because I prefer the more colourful art direction in Ghost.
 

HardRojo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,486
Peru
Much like TLOU II it's lots of little details which overall make quite a large difference if you're an enthusiast when it comes to visuals. The reveal looks more like a PS5 game when it comes to the first half of the video in the OP.

I will never understand why when Sony seem to do this people chuckle and say "calm down no need to get so toxic over graphics" yet when Ubisoft, CDPR, Nintendo or Xbox games are visually downgraded from reveal to launch there are 20 page threads baying for blood.
Did you forget puddlegate or something? And what title from Sony showed massive downgrades? Besides the UC4 60 fps reveal, nothing else was the huge downgrade plenty are trying to say they were, not even TLoU Part II. It actually surprises me people say TLoU Part II was a massive or big downgrade.
 
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Iron Eddie

Banned
Nov 25, 2019
9,812
IIRC it was PS4 pro footage.
Of course they have to show games coming soon for the PS5, it's launching this year. What I meant to say is Sony will always have (some) titles they show that are more than a year out. Do we have a release date for Horizon 2? Looking back at PS4 so many titles they showed were released over a year after announcement.
 

ken_matthews

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
838
I feel like quite a number of Sony 1st party games are downgraded to some degree. Uncharted 4, TLOU2, now this.

I don't think "downgrade" is a very useful word for what's going on. I think it's deceptive marketing. Developers know what's possible and what's not possible at this point in the console's life cycle. They know what visual fidelity they can achieve during cutscenes, and they know that it's not possible during gameplay. Yet they still pass it off as "gameplay". Honestly, I think they do it because it makes a product look better before it's released, and they think that nobody really cares. And they're probably right, most people probably don't care. I mean, TLoU2 and Ghost of Tsushima both had significant "downgrades", but I still bought both games. The downgrades didn't reduce my enjoyment of either game. So it didn't really matter for me, even though I'm somebody who hates the deceptive pre-release marketing,
 
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Kyoufu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,582
I will never understand why when Sony seem to do this people chuckle and say "calm down no need to get so toxic over graphics" yet when Ubisoft, CDPR, Nintendo or Xbox games are visually downgraded from reveal to launch there are 20 page threads baying for blood.

Probably because Ubisoft and CDPR's downgrades were massive in comparison. Go check out the first footage of Watch Dogs, The Division and The Witcher 3 to see how far and away they looked from their final release.
 

Ocirus

Member
Dec 4, 2017
1,541
Oh yeah, for sure the previously released media looks better. Still completely enthralled with it! Certainly isn't the only offender of not meeting their marketing visuals, especially recently, and sadly won't be the last.

Sidenote: I'm utterly floored by the load times, performance, and just how quiet my pro fan is while playing! <3 it's a phenomenal achievement!
 
Oct 27, 2017
6,960
• Draw distance definitely smaller
• Kart just has less details flaying around
• Weather is flat in 2020, the sky is dramatic and contrasty in 2018
• 2018 has better indirect lightning: whether it uses better AO, or somehow calculates extra shadow definition in the places where direct light doesn't reach
• Entire first fight is in the shadow in 2020
• Face seems to be more alive in the 2018, but the details in hair and clothing seem to be identical
• The interior fight in 2020 has better lightning, or time of day is better, there is fog in 2018
• The standoff in the cutscene is way better in 2020 in terms of staging, contrast and DoF.

If there was a way to sync-up the weather, it would be a better comparison, but from the video, it is a downgrade. Draw distance, lightning and the amount of small details favor 2018.
 

Niks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,316
I still don't like how "shiny" everything is. Grass is not shiny sucker punch.
 

Deleted member 12352

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,203
After making the mistake of reading through this thread before watching the video I was expecting the difference to be far more dramatic than it actually is.
 

texhnolyze

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,560
Indonesia
I don't I don't think "downgrade" is a very useful word for what's going on. I think it's deceptive marketing. Developers know what's possible and what's not possible at this point in the console's life cycle. They know what visual fidelity they can achieve during cutscenes, and they know that it's not possible during gameplay. Yet they still pass it off as "gameplay". Honestly, I think they do it because it makes a product look better before it's released, and they think that nobody really cares. And they're probably right, most people probably don't care. I mean, TLoU2 and Ghost of Tsushima both had significant "downgrades", but I still bought both games. The downgrades didn't reduce my enjoyment of either game. So it didn't really matter for me, even though I'm somebody who hates the deceptive pre-release marketing,
It's just funny to me that the reception is always "huh, whatever" even though they've done it again and again. And when some other company like Ubisoft or Blizzard did it, the reaction would be totally different. I'm not asking people to bring out their pitchforks, you know, it's just the way this place is.

After making the mistake of reading through this thread before watching the video I was expecting the difference to be far more dramatic than it actually is.
Not sure about that.

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Dreazy

Member
Oct 25, 2018
2,031
To think this game looked even better than what released is simply mind blowing, hoping this is the ps5 version
 

Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,281
Release looks better in a few areas, but overall 2018 looks superior. It's a clear case of downgrade here, specially in scene complexity and foliage.
 

dragn

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt-account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
881
i tried hdr off one time and it just looked dull like this video. with hdr it looks way better
 

ken_matthews

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
838
It's just funny to me that the reception is always "huh, whatever" even though they've done it again and again. And when some other company like Ubisoft or Blizzard did it, the reaction would be totally different. I'm not asking people to bring out their pitchforks, you know, it's just the way this place is.

Yeah, a lot of folks on this forum seem to have a fairly obvious Sony first-party developer bias. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I try to call it out whenever I see it, regardless of company or platform, because I just don't like deception. And at this point I don't think it's developement realities, or optimization, or anything like that. I think it's deliberate deceptive marketing.
 

Deleted member 12352

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,203
I will never understand why when Sony seem to do this people chuckle and say "calm down no need to get so toxic over graphics" yet when Ubisoft, CDPR, Nintendo or Xbox games are visually downgraded from reveal to launch there are 20 page threads baying for blood.

Yeah, you'll never find a defense force for Nintendo, Xbox or CDPR on... *checks notes*... Resetera.