Best FPS to push GFX?

By +Asmodai
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+Asmodai MVC

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I just built a new computer.  I'm not normally a fan of FPS games but I buy one each time I buy a new gfx card because the FPS genre tends to be what pushes computer gfx the most and so I want to have a game that really shows what my new card is capable of.  Typically there is a lot of hype around these games so I know which one to get, for example back in the day Crysis was the one pushing hardware but I have no idea what is now.

 

Let me be clear, I don't care how "fun" the game is I'm just looking for a gfx demo essentially.  I want the prettiest game even if it's short, has a stupid story, etc.  I would like it to have single player and I don't care if it has multiplayer or not.  I would prefer if it didn't require a service to run (Steam, Origin, etc.) but Steam is acceptable if there is a clear winner that happens to be steam only.

 

Right now the FPS game that seems to be getting the most hype is Titanfall but it seems to be exactly the opposite of what I'm looking for.  It's a Source engine game so it's not exactly bleeding edge (I know it's been significantly updated but ideally I'd get a game that's been designed from the ground up for high end systems.)  It has no single player at all.  It requires Origin (which I don't have at all).  Eurogamer had these things to say about it:

 

"Certainly, most alpha effects from missiles look plain in isolation..."

 

"Much of Fracture, for example, is built to a very strict and rigid wireframe, with no evidence of next-gen technologies such as tessellation to round off the more egregious corners. Shading is also largely missing, outside of baked-in shadows and ambient occlusion that fades in we near objects."

 

"These are issues that aren't solved by the PC route, even on maxed settings. Right down to the geometry LOD pop-in, many of the Xbox One version's foibles are still present on relatively unbounded hardware."

 

Source:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-titanfall-beta-tech-analysis

 

Now this isn't a criticism of Titanfall as a game.  Everything I've read says it's an extremely fun FPS and you don't really notice the gfx failings because of the high intensity and frantic pace of the combat. (the quotes above even have similar disclaimers around them when read in context)  So I'm sure it's a GREAT game but I'm looking for more of an interactive gfx demo and it doesn't appear to be that.

 

It'd rather have something with spectacular alpha effects, heavy tessellation use, dynamic lighting, destructible terrain, etc. even if it has a really bad story, really short campaign, etc.  So any tips on what the best GFX demo style game for PC's is today... what is today's Crysis?  Is there one about to be released?

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Grand Master

DrunknMunky Veteran

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I think the PC is lacking a FPS "poster boy" right now. RAGE was really the last one but it released in 2011.

 

Maybe Skyrim & every GFX mod you can find (although it's not a shooter). When you have them all working together I don't think anything comes close to it on a visual level.

 

Edit: some random albums I stole from Reddit to give you an idea

 

http://imgur.com/a/AD0ig

 

http://imgur.com/a/eD2Xs

 

http://i.imgur.com/uYNMYWC.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/zQabuMt.jpg

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+Asmodai MVC

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Crysis III, Far Cray III... :) Metro Last Light...

 

Crysis II and III both run on CryEngine 3 which I heard was actually a step back from the first Crysis (CryEngine 2) in terms of high end hardware.  Instead it is my understanding they focused on making a more scalable engine that was capable of running on the PS3 and XBox 360 and improving ease of development.  Is this not correct?

 

Far Cry III I just assumed was in a similar boat since the first one was CryEngine 1.0 and it was developed first for consoles.  If that's not the case though and the consensus ends up being that it is one of the better "gfx demo" games then it looks like a compiliation is about to be released as "Far Cry The Wild Expedition" so I might pick that one up.

 

Metro: Last Light I don't know much about at all but again my concern is just that it seemed to target last gen consoles on a quick look but admitted I know little about these FPS games so maybe this one is the best.

 

Isn't there anything out recently or coming soon (with an actual release date) that is launching new "next gen" versions of game engines?  CryEngine 4 seems to just have Ryse: Son of Rome out now which is Xbone only.  Nothing else has a firm release date for it according to the wikipedia and Star Citizen and Kingdom Come: Deliverance are all the way out into 2015 (though I backed both of those on Kickstarter)

 

Maybe Daylight for Unreal Engine 4?  I guess id Tech Engines are pretty much done now that Bethesda bought id and restricted them to in house use and Carmack left to work with VR.  What are the other big players out there in bleeding edge game engines?

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+Asmodai MVC

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That's pretty cool, I'll definately take a look at it but I'm hoping to pick up a more conventional game that I can reference to my FPS playing friends and have them have some idea of what I'm talking about as well.

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+Asmodai MVC

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out of curiosity, what are your specs?

 

Intel Core i7-4770S

16GB DDR3 RAM

AMD R9 270 2GB GDDR5

SanDisk Extreme II 240GB SATA III SSD (system drive)

WD Black 4TB SATA III HDD (data drive)

 

I think that covers the most relevant specs if there is something else you want to know just ask.  I know it's not a super liquid cooled SLI beast but like I said I'm typically not even a FPS gamer.  I play on a 1080p monitor (didn't get a new one of those... yet) so I don't want to just crank up to extreme resolution.  What I want to do is get the best image quality/most gfx effects at 1080p.  I want to see things like dynamic lighting, tessellation, destroyable terrain, weather effects, high polygon counts, detailed textures, etc. not just super high resolutions and/or crazy intense anti-aliasing techniques.

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+Asmodai MVC

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I think the PC is lacking a FPS "poster boy" right now. RAGE was really the last one but it released in 2011.

 

Maybe Skyrim & every GFX mod you can find (although it's not a shooter). When you have them all working together I don't think anything comes close to it on a visual level.

 

Edit: some random albums I stole from Reddit to give you an idea

 

http://imgur.com/a/AD0ig

 

http://imgur.com/a/eD2Xs

 

http://i.imgur.com/uYNMYWC.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/zQabuMt.jpg

 

While not a FPS gamer I AM a RPG gamer and I already do own Skyrim (and EVERY other Elder Scrolls game).  It's not exactly a new game though so I figured the AAA FPS games would have dwarfed it in the gfx dept. by now even with it's mods, maybe that's not the case.

 

Along a similar line Battlefield 4 has been mentioned and I see it uses a new "next-gen" Frostbite 3 engine... though I also note that the same engine is driving Dragon Age: Inquisition, which I already plan to buy, so maybe my best bet is just to wait for that and hope EA gets all the kinks I keep hearing about worked out of the engine by then.

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Grand Master

DrunknMunky Veteran

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While not a FPS gamer I AM a RPG gamer and I already do own Skyrim (and EVERY other Elder Scrolls game).  It's not exactly a new game though so I figured the AAA FPS games would have dwarfed it in the gfx dept. by now even with it's mods, maybe that's not the case.

 

Along a similar line Battlefield 4 has been mentioned and I see it uses a new "next-gen" Frostbite 3 engine... though I also note that the same engine is driving Dragon Age: Inquisition, which I already plan to buy, so maybe my best bet is just to wait for that and hope EA gets all the kinks I keep hearing about worked out of the engine by then.

 

I don't think they have but that's just my opinion. I happen to agree with you on the CRYengine comment you made above. It has been less about pushing the visual level and more about optimization.

 

The "demanding" games people mention these days aren't because the engines are pushing visuals, it's cause they're need a lot of work. Frostbite 3 is a prime example, at least in games currently using it which have released. ArmA 3 and DayZ, again terrible optimization of the engine.

 

Maybe REDengine 3 and Witcher 3 will be what you're after. Or when UE4 finally gets released but I doubt Fortnite will be the showstopper to make full use of it.

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+Asmodai MVC

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Did you specifically go with the 4770S lower power/clock model for a reason?

Sort of, I'm OCD, rofl.

I picked things for power "efficiency" and not just throw money for the fastest I could afford.  The S appealed to me for that reason and it's also why I chose the R9 270 over the R9 270X.  Heck I almost got a WD Green instead of Black for similar reasons but I didn't want to give up the 7200rpm.  I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference anyway and if I can run cooler and consume less power then that's great.

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+Asmodai MVC

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Maybe REDengine 3 and Witcher 3 will be what you're after. Or when UE4 finally gets released but I doubt Fortnite will be the showstopper to make full use of it.

 

I already plan on getting Witcher 3 as well. :)

UE4 sounds perfect but I don't see a release date for it and Fortnite doesn't look like the gfx spectacle that I'm looking for with it's cartoony gfx.

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Am I the only one who thinks that Bioshock Infinite looked very nice?

B4 should run smooth too, after all it is in bed w/ AMD.

 

Crysis II and III both run on CryEngine 3 which I heard was actually a step back from the first Crysis (CryEngine 2) in terms of high end hardware.  Instead it is my understanding they focused on making a more scalable engine that was capable of running on the PS3 and XBox 360 and improving ease of development.  Is this not correct?

 

Far Cry III I just assumed was in a similar boat since the first one was CryEngine 1.0 and it was developed first for consoles.  If that's not the case though and the consensus ends up being that it is one of the better "gfx demo" games then it looks like a compiliation is about to be released as "Far Cry The Wild Expedition" so I might pick that one up.

 

Metro: Last Light I don't know much about at all but again my concern is just that it seemed to target last gen consoles on a quick look but admitted I know little about these FPS games so maybe this one is the best.

 

Isn't there anything out recently or coming soon (with an actual release date) that is launching new "next gen" versions of game engines?  CryEngine 4 seems to just have Ryse: Son of Rome out now which is Xbone only.  Nothing else has a firm release date for it according to the wikipedia and Star Citizen and Kingdom Come: Deliverance are all the way out into 2015 (though I backed both of those on Kickstarter)

 

Maybe Daylight for Unreal Engine 4?  I guess id Tech Engines are pretty much done now that Bethesda bought id and restricted them to in house use and Carmack left to work with VR.  What are the other big players out there in bleeding edge game engines?

Far Cry 3 looks nice and runs very smoothly, even when you set the draw distance above in game maximum.

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Crysis 3 - Its the poster child.

All Cryteks, Cryengine 1st party releases are poster children for PC gfx.

Problem is were now at a point where other companies are catching up.

It generally goes like this :

Crytek release PC Gfx intensive game that pushes tech etc.

Crytek rest on laurels

Crytek then scales down tech for consoles, about the same time everyone else starts pushing out better looking games.

Or atleast seems to have been the cycle since Farcry 1 back in the good old days.

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+Eternal Tempest MVC

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I think the PC is lacking a FPS "poster boy" right now. RAGE was really the last one but it released in 2011.

 

Maybe Skyrim & every GFX mod you can find (although it's not a shooter). When you have them all working together I don't think anything comes close to it on a visual level.

 

Edit: some random albums I stole from Reddit to give you an idea

 

http://imgur.com/a/AD0ig

 

http://imgur.com/a/eD2Xs

 

http://i.imgur.com/uYNMYWC.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/zQabuMt.jpg

 

Thinking the same thing, use Skyrim, and install every major graphics enhancement / texture replacement mod and put on max settings.

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+Asmodai MVC

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Crysis 3 - Its the poster child.

 

Is there a version of Crysis 3 that doesn't require Origin?  I don't have Origin installed nor do I ever plan to install it.  It's bad enough I've got Steam, I'm not going to add another.

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+Asmodai MVC

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Starcitizen will push your system, they made it for next gen. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/about-the-game

Yeah, I backed that (twice actually, once directly then again on kickstarter), it and Kingdom Come: Deliverance aren't out until next year though and that's assuming they don't get delayed further (pretty much every kickstarter fails to launch on time in my experience).

 

This thread is actually pretty encouraging as it seems FPS games are no longer the tip of the sword in gfx.  As a non-FPS player it's good to see Skyrim, Starcitizen (CryEngine 4.0), Dragon Age: Inquisition (Frostbite 3), Witcher 3 (REDEngine 3), etc. listed as bleeding edge gfx games.  All of these were already on my list of games to get (or in the case of Skyrim I already have) so it seems my practice of buying a FPS gfx demo game with each new gfx card may come to an end.

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theyarecomingforyou

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I think the PC is lacking a FPS "poster boy" right now. RAGE was really the last one but it released in 2011.

RAGE was a console game that was poorly ported to PC. It had incredibly low resolution textures and lacked even basic effects, like dynamic lighting. That's not to mention all of the issues. It certainly didn't push the envelope graphically.

 

The best games to show off graphics at the moment are Far Cry 3, Metro: Last Light and Crysis 3. They've already been mentioned but they really are the games that most take advantage of top-end PC hardware and have visuals that the next-gen consoles can't even hope to get near.

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