General Gaming Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (PC/PS5/Xbox Series) - update: "PC optimised settings and graphics comparison vs PS5" (Digital Foundry)

[Keyser_Soze]

Not everyone has the same objectives as you.

 

A family might want to get a cheaper console, a lower price point to jump into games is an easy gateway for that.

Some people like the Series S just for using as an emulation box or a game pass machine. The games play fine enough for them and they know what they're getting into.

Not everyone wants one to play the AAAA games that you do.

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Not everyone has the same objectives as you.

 

A family might want to get a cheaper console, a lower price point to jump into games is an easy gateway for that.

Some people like the Series S just for using as an emulation box or a game pass machine. The games play fine enough for them and they know what they're getting into.

Not everyone wants one to play the AAAA games that you do.

Who is "you"?

[Keyser_Soze]

6 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Who is "you"?

 

Your mom!

 

 

(Best)

[Spork3245]

Series S is $150 at Costco right now apparently 

[best3444]

4 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Not everyone has the same objectives as you.

 

A family might want to get a cheaper console, a lower price point to jump into games is an easy gateway for that.

Some people like the Series S just for using as an emulation box or a game pass machine. The games play fine enough for them and they know what they're getting into.

Not everyone wants one to play the AAAA games that you do.

 

I get it! 

[Biggie]

7 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Not everyone has the same objectives as you.

 

A family might want to get a cheaper console, a lower price point to jump into games is an easy gateway for that.

Some people like the Series S just for using as an emulation box or a game pass machine. The games play fine enough for them and they know what they're getting into.

Not everyone wants one to play the AAAA games that you do.

Yeah @best3444 you bastard. 

[best3444]

8 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

The games play fine enough for them and they know what they're getting into.

 

 

This isn't always true. Parents can be clueless on which console has more power etc. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Kids are clueless too.

 

Remember with growing up on Genesis playing Hard Drivin' and it ran like shit but you still have a bunch of fun? Well kids won't get to experience anything that extreme unless they are playing Batman on Switch.

But for the kids who have a Series S, they'll get by just fine.

[best3444]

Ok, you win. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

 

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - the PC showcase scales beautifully to PS5, Series X and even Series S

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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What's the deal with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora - does this PC showcase scale to PS5 and Series X? Let's find out wit…

 

Quote

 

The questions going in to Avatar are simple: between the dense, rich jungle environments, ray-traced GI and reflections, and high-quality materials, how does each platform hold up - particularly the less powerful Series S? And in looking at the game's 60fps performance mode available only on Series X and PS5, are all of its cutting-edge visuals possible with unwavering performance? Or is the alternative 30fps quality mode the better way to go?

 

First things first: I'm happy to confirm you do not need a top-end PC to enjoy the fruits of Massive Entertainment's labour here. The bottom line is PS5, Series X and even Series S successfully translate the PC experience to less powerful console platforms with smart cutbacks. Crucially, none of these cutbacks hamper the experience of exploring its detail-rich jungle. In fact, it's clear the team has made these console versions a priority - with its Snowdrop engine scaling beautifully to each.

 

No matter where you look there's a new highlight. Pandora's lush jungles are the star of the show of course, and emerging from the claustrophobic indoor tutorial section you have free rein to go anywhere you like. The dense thickets of plant life are a proud feature of the game's design, complete with a volumetric fog that fills the horizon and insects flying through the space.

 

Elsewhere, we get pre-tessellated terrain, meaning ground debris renders as full, high quality geometry, while materials like moss on bark present at a high resolution. We get interactive foliage too: plants that react to player movement and break apart procedurally in response to gunfire. The world of Pandora is always in a constant state of change as well, with a rolling time of day and different weather states - something of a specialty for Massive Entertainment it seems. Rain, volumetric fog, and even wind are all simulated, causing tree branches and grass to sway.

 

All things considered, it's a stunning package. The Snowdrop engine that debuted with The Division has clearly been upgraded significantly and combines effectively with the visual-lead world of Avatar to create a cohesive, living space.

 

 

Quote

 

It's to Massive Entertainment's credit that it's managed to build such a visually standout game - and to be able to scale its core visual features like the dense jungles and RT effects to console in such a seamless way. At 30fps it looks and plays well on every console, be it PS5, Series X or Series S.

 

The only real blemish on the package is the less-than-polished 60fps performance level on the premium machines. The frequent one frame dips are a nuisance, while deeper drops to the 40s spoil battles to some extent. With a VRR-compatible display, this is still the mode to pick though, and the higher refrsh makes a big difference given the focus on platforming and movement through vertically-scaling environments. I only hope that the performance mode can be further optimised in future - I'd gladly trade a bit of resolution for a rock-solid 60fps lock.

 

Otherwise, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora - in its tech and its gameplay loop - is up there among the most pleasant surprises of 2023 and it's seriously well worth checking out.

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

18 hours ago, best3444 said:

I honestly don't understand the concept of the Series S? It's cheaper I get that but what real gamer would choose it over the superior X?

I'm a "real gamer" and I bought a Series S for my parent's house for when I'm in town. It's a great entry level system for people on a budget who want to play current games without the hassle of figuring out PC stuff. Also plenty of "real gamers" don't have a problem with the Switch or any Nintendo system for that matter. Lastly most PC gamers are running systems that can barely run current gen games at the highest settings... it's not about the tech just sayin'.

[AbsolutSurgen]

I think @best3444 has conceded the point.  I don't think we need to keep piling on.

[best3444]

1 hour ago, skillzdadirecta said:

I'm a "real gamer" and I bought a Series S for my parent's house for when I'm in town. It's a great entry level system for people on a budget who want to play current games without the hassle of figuring out PC stuff. Also plenty of "real gamers" don't have a problem with the Switch or any Nintendo system for that matter. Lastly most PC gamers are running systems that can barely run current gen games at the highest settings... it's not about the tech just sayin'.

 

I understand. My comments were ill advised. Don't hate me, man. 

 

I do like the look of the series s. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

2 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

 

It's a shame the framerate, even on performance, can't come close to maintaining 60.

[best3444]

1 minute ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

It's a shame the framerate, even on performance, can't come close to maintaining 60.

 

I think that's how it's going to be until the "pro" consoles release. Sucks. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Added the text article to @AbsolutSurgen's post.

[stepee]

VRR should make the console performance mode pretty nice still. Also almost as exciting than the graphics is DF seems to really love the game itself. I keep hearing less Far Cry and more Crysis.

[best3444]

28 minutes ago, stepee said:

VRR should make the console performance mode pretty nice still. Also almost as exciting than the graphics is DF seems to really love the game itself. I keep hearing less Far Cry and more Crysis.

 

Are you going to focus on this since you've beaten Robocop?

[stepee]

19 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

Are you going to focus on this since you've beaten Robocop?

 

Yeah, I think this will be my next game I main on tv now. For my night time gaming, I’m still too obsessed with the deck’s display and just looking at everything I possibly can see on it to decide on a single game or to go back to Mario rpg.

[best3444]

Just now, stepee said:

 

Yeah, I think this will be my next game I main on tv now. For my night time gaming, I’m still too obsessed with the deck’s display and just looking at everything I possibly can see on it to decide on a single game or to go back to Mario rpg.

 

Nice. I'm enjoying FF7's story but the setting is very depressing. I kinda forced myself to play today so I'm not sure I'll beat it. The combat and characters are really good though. 

[stepee]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

 

Nice. I'm enjoying FF7's story but the setting is very depressing. I kinda forced myself to play today so I'm not sure I'll beat it. The combat and characters are really good though. 

 

I suppose it might be good to go back when you are in a better mood as I can see it being a bit depressing. Good time to play Tetris Effect and zone out!

[skillzdadirecta]

3 hours ago, best3444 said:

 

I understand. My comments were ill advised. Don't hate me, man. 

 

I do like the look of the series s. 

I don't hate you bro 

[stepee]

Yeah got the dlss3 mod installed and set now and dlss performance looks a lot better than fsr balanced while running at 110-116 (reflex cap) now on the hidden settings. Beautiful shit.

[stepee]

Man this shit looks real nice. Got double jump and a machine gun now and it’s starting to open up. I feel like there is way too much platforming in this to say it’s just far cry. Also the AI seems real good (and sneaky!). I’m pretty sure some reviewers did not play the game.

[best3444]

7 minutes ago, stepee said:

Man this shit looks real nice. Got double jump and a machine gun now and it’s starting to open up. I feel like there is way too much platforming in this to say it’s just far cry. Also the AI seems real good (and sneaky!). I’m pretty sure some reviewers did not play the game.

 

God. So jelly. 

[Brian]

Started this game on PS5 and I was surprised by the graphics praise. Game looked washed out and ugly. Then you finally get outside and I’m like “ok this does look pretty good.”  Why this game ever makes you go inside is beyond me. 
 

The game is solid. Has a Far Cry Primal feel to it so far. 

[stepee]

Interesting, the interiors do look great on pc. Though, the start of the game being like 30 minutes inside kind of annoyed because that’s like not what I wanted to see right away. 

 

Did you get to the Resistance HQ yet? Does that look bad too?

[stepee]

The platforming is definitely what is making this stand out for me. I love me some first person platforming and this is some of the best in the bizz. The story hasn’t grabbed me too much but I don’t think it’s as bad as some reviews said, it’s serviceable, not actively terrible. But story isn’t she you watch let alone play Avatar. I really hope I get my mount tomorrow, looking forward to seeing how that looks should be wild.

[Brian]

The interiors are all drabs of grays with no color. It is extremely one tone. Add that rooms, hallways, and spaces look the same, it is super boring. Plus there lighting doesn’t look great. 
 

When you finally get outside, it’s a definitely a whoa moment as the colors pop, but it’s clearly aided by being stuck in a grey nightmare. The engine feels tuned to make the colors pop.  It kind of reminds me how tvs are setup in stores where the colors are extremely over saturated to make the picture jump out at you and get you to buy it.  A good example of this when the game puts a Na’vi next to a human. 
 

The resistance HQ has more color so it doesn’t look as bad.  

[stepee]

2 minutes ago, Brian said:

The interiors are all drabs of grays with no color. It is extremely one tone. Add that rooms, hallways, and spaces look the same, it is super boring. Plus there lighting doesn’t look great. 
 

When you finally get outside, it’s a definitely a whoa moment as the colors pop, but it’s clearly aided by being stuck in a grey nightmare. The engine feels tuned to make the colors pop.  It kind of reminds me how tvs are setup in stores where the colors are extremely over saturated to make the picture jump out at you and get you to buy it.  A good example of this when the game puts a Na’vi next to a human. 
 

The resistance HQ has more color so it doesn’t look as bad.  

 

Isn’t that the look of Avatar in general?

 

Edit: I mean the Best Buy color tone, not the interiors (i haven’t seen a lot of them

on console to comment)

[Brian]

Just now, stepee said:

 

Isn’t that the look of Avatar in general?

The Na’vi and Pandora look like they are being rendered in Snowdrop and the humans and interiors in shitty UE3. They share the same space but don’t.  It doesn’t look right to me and I find this more apparent indoors than outdoors. 

[stepee]

3 minutes ago, Brian said:

The Na’vi and Pandora look like they are being rendered in Snowdrop and the humans and interiors in shitty UE3. They share the same space but don’t.  It doesn’t look right to me and I find this more apparent indoors than outdoors. 

 

I just meant the color tone outdoors

[Brian]

7 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

I just meant the color tone outdoors

I don’t know. I only watched the first movie in theaters due to the 3D.   The effect of the vibrant colors in gray interiors gives the Na’vi a look like they are being CG’d into the screen. That’s what it looks like to me at least. It isn’t a big issue since you aren’t inside a lot. 

[stepee]

Yeah I think that’s why they do it because that’s how the planet looks and has a lot of emissive plant life and revolves around its sun/moon differently. That isn’t to excuse how the interiors look on console though! Hopefully there isn’t too much modern interior even though it still looks good on pc because that isn’t why I signed up.

 

I imagine the next base you find after HQ looks very nice on console still

[stepee]

Man AMD really needs to stop forcing out dlss3 if they want to not call attention to how far behind they are. It’s crazy how much better dlss performance looks than fsr balanced. So you’re still getting a much better picture quality along with better performance. I’d also take dlss performance over fsr quality easily. It’s just not the same thing still. And then frame gen, though this is the best fsr3 I’ve seen, doesn’t work as well either for latency or IQ. And then the entire UI gets all screwed up with fsr3 whenever you move which doesn’t happen with the dlss3 mod.

 

I wouldn’t know all of this and talk about how behind they are if they didn’t force me to use their solution first until someone comes out with a mod.