DF: God of War Ragnorok - PS4 vs. PS4 PRO vs. PS5 Graphics comparison

[Deleted member 13]

I said this before and I'll say it again.. ambient occlusion is a MUST in getting games to look realistic and properly grounded. ESPECIALLY since we are still dealing with baked out GI light probes (which I hate with a passion). SSM used the SSDO (screen space directional occlusion) taken from the PC port of 2018 version and applied it to the PS5 version (PS4 doesn't have it because of it's expense). It makes all the difference in the world for indirect lighting. I'm disappointed that Horizon team didn't use this form of occlusion as their indirect lighting breaks all of the energy conservation PBR shaders.

 

[mansoor1980]

the water is not very impressive in GOWR , nice use of cubemaps/SSR in fidelity mode tho.
HFW however has extremely well animated and reactive water/waves etc

 

[mansoor1980]

also the pc version had the option of GTAO ,which i think has a bigger performance hit than SSDO

 

[Bryank75]

the water is not very impressive in GOWR , nice use of cubemaps/SSR in fidelity mode tho.
HFW however has extremely well animated and reactive water/waves etc

I think Kojimas team laid a lot of the work down for the water and wave improvements..... but of course GG then took that and added underwater and open sea sections along with machines using the water etc.

Water sections are really well done in general, they kept things really interesting.

 

[Deleted member 13]

the water is not very impressive in GOWR , nice use of cubemaps/SSR in fidelity mode tho.
HFW however has extremely well animated and reactive water/waves etc

Games in general have shit water. It depresses me.

 

[PlacidusaX]

I am not impressed with the visuals besides a occasional boss fight.

 

[Deleted member 13]

I am not impressed with the visuals besides a occasional boss fight.

I think they did a better job of adding higher detailed textures to introduce fine-grained details. The skin shader is better too as well as the displacement mapping for the snow. Other than that though, it looks like GoW 2018. Plague : Requiem is still top dawg on my list of best graphics for this new generation. Even some last-gen games look better than the games released this generation.

 

[Darth Vader]

I think they did a better job of adding higher detailed textures to introduce fine-grained details. The skin shader is better too as well as the displacement mapping for the snow. Other than that though, it looks like GoW 2018. Plague : Requiem is still top dawg on my list of best graphics for this new generation. Even some last-gen games look better than the games released this generation.

It looks like GoW 2018 in what way? It's a sequel lol. There's a lot of improvements graphically, very noticeable if you play both games on a 4k TV.

 

[Sircaw]

i have just played the open sleigh ride, it's gorgeous.

If this is cross-gen, bring it on.

 

[Deleted member 13]

It looks like GoW 2018 in what way? It's a sequel lol. There's a lot of improvements graphically, very noticeable if you play both games on a 4k TV.

You are acting like it's a next-gen version of GoW 2018 with radically new algorithms. That's not the case. The things I mentioned will be noticeable. I never said it's not noticeable. And 2018 is a great looking game so I'm confused why comparing it to it's predecessor would be considered criticizing the game.

 

[ethomaz]

Summary from Temperance@ERA.

• Build for PS4 so not very compromised vs PS5
• TAAU chosen over Checker Boarding
• PS4 30fps mode feels smooth due to enhanced Motion Blur
  • Base: Res 1080p@30 stable
  • Pro: Res 1440p-1656p @30-Perfect (TAAU) in stills close to PS5. Performance 1080p-1656p @~40-50 (heavily leans 1080p most times), no VRR thus jittery.
• PS5 graphics are more additional and subtle
  • - Indirect lighting including use of SSDO (Screen Space Directional Occlusion)
  • - Greater Shadow Quality on PS5 Quality Mode
  • - Cinematics include additional lighting (Not Hero Lighting)
  • - Better quality screen space reflection, enhancing cube maps
  • - DoF and Motion Blur tied together on RES Mode, separate in Quality Mode
• Loading:
  • Saves PS4 ~30 sec, PS5 10 sec.
  • Deaths PS4 ~10 sec
• Impressively polished and bug free

----

The biggest let down for me was that game not being build for PS5 specifically.
It looks greater but could looks even better without PS4 roots... Santa Monica designed it to not compromisse PS4 version.

 

[ethomaz]

It looks like GoW 2018 in what way? It's a sequel lol. There's a lot of improvements graphically, very noticeable if you play both games on a 4k TV.

It has improvements but it is very rooted on PS4 base to not compromisse it... it could be way better imo.

What happened on Ragnarok is exactly why I don't like cross-gen development, multi platform development and generation refreshed hardware (aka PS4 Pro)... when you go exclusive for a single machine is when you get more from it.

 

[ethomaz]

Side note.

The first think I noticed playing it yesterday is the loading times.
10s is atrocious for a PS5 game but again just show it roots on PS4.

It is the first time Santa Monica didn't push their games to be a graphical showcase imo.
GoW 3 and GoW (2018) really pushed what you could do with PS3 and PS4 forward.... Ragnarok choose to stay between PS4 and PS5.

 

[Deleted member 13]

Side note.

The first think I noticed playing it yesterday is the loading times.
10s is atrocious for a PS5 game but again just show it roots on PS4.

Hmm.. interesting.

It is the first time Santa Monica didn't push their games to be a graphical showcase imo.
GoW 3 and GoW (2018) really pushed what you could do with PS3 and PS4 forward.... Ragnarok choose to stay between PS4 and PS5.

True. Well, there is always PS6 era and PS5 will be the target at that point. GoW is done for this generation.

 

[Alabtrosmyster]

Hmm.. interesting.


True. Well, there is always PS6 era and PS5 will be the target at that point. GoW is done for this generation.

For better of for worse you could be right.

GoW 2 was released after the PS3.

 

[Darth Vader]

True. Well, there is always PS6 era and PS5 will be the target at that point. GoW is done for this generation.

I'd probably agree with this if it were not for the sales so far. I think we'll see more GoW this gen, even if it is a spin off or a DLC. And this is ripe for a movie BTW. Bring bald Jason momoa as Kratos'.

 

[Deleted member 13]

I'd probably agree with this if it were not for the sales so far. I think we'll see more GoW this gen, even if it is a spin off or a DLC. And this is ripe for a movie BTW. Bring bald Jason momoa as Kratos'.

I can definitely see DLC. I'm just saying I don't think there is time for a refactoring of the graphics engine to support more advanced rendering features like Nanite/Lumen or RTGI, etc..

 

[Darth Vader]

I can definitely see DLC. I'm just saying I don't think there is time for a refactoring of the graphics engine to support more advanced rendering features like Nanite/Lumen or RTGI, etc..

I'd say that's pure speculation to be fair. We don't know how "modular" their engine is for once, and we don't know if they aren't working on that already.

 

[Deleted member 13]

I'd say that's pure speculation to be fair. We don't know how "modular" their engine is for once, and we don't know if they aren't working on that already.

Usually (from past metrics) a game with a new and improved graphics engine comes with the next whole new game - not DLC. Adding trivial things like RT reflections doesn't require a rewrite. So even if I'm speculating, it's a logical speculation based on past data.

 

[Darth Vader]

Usually (from past metrics) a game with a new and improved graphics engine comes with the next whole new game - not DLC. Adding trivial things like RT reflections doesn't require a rewrite. So even if I'm speculating, it's a logical speculation based on past data.

Oh yeah it wouldn't come with DLC, sorry I wasn't clear. What I meant is that it's possible they are already working on this, so whatever they release next could have it (or not). I still think they will release another GoW this gen. This game was supposed to come out in 2021 (and the delays were related to the main actor). This gen will likely end by 2027/28, so plenty of time for their expanded studio to release a couple of games.