Most impressive open world game 2015

[norseamd]

That's a bit harsh.

There is quite a ways still for them to go, but the real question is will CDPR continue to keep going down that path?

 

[norseamd]

Some of the "damage" can be undone via mods and patches helped. I'll have to do a clean install, I have a few mods that seem to be in conflict.

What mods are you using?

 

[TeknoBug]

On that poll list I'd pick GTA V, but I'd also pick other and say Rust and ARK.

 

[norseamd]

Until CDPR goes for cash grabs like Battlefront or does a 180 on it's DRM policy, I'm calling BS. The "items of note" where you claim the game went backwards I am open to discuss.

The first game is what Yahtzee reacted to with his PCMR remarks. CDPR exponentially upped the game with each release. I'm curious as what people are referring to when they say W2 was better than W3. I liked the "court intrigue" of W2 but a straight up loss of quality from W2 to W3, I just don't see it.

A lot of stuff was improved in Witcher 3 over Witcher 2, although some stuff was also lost. There were improvements to combat, but also it got very cheapened, especially with potions and oils. And there was a lot of other dumb crap done in the name of "accessibility" and such.

 

[Fire&Blood]

What mods are you using?

CineFX, HD Reworked, LOD mod and ULM.

Oh, I see what you meant earlier. Yes indeed, the game was "streamlined" to appease mouth breathers.

 

[norseamd]

CineFX, HD Reworked, LOD mod and ULM.

Your pics did get rid of whatever is plaguing the Witcher 3 right now, basically massive bluring or some other crap, but why do you also now have some type of grain effect?

 

[Fire&Blood]

Your pics did get rid of whatever is plaguing the Witcher 3 right now, basically massive bluring or some other crap, but why do you also now have some type of grain effect?

I haven't posted any screens in this thread. If you are referring to the gifs I posted, those are all gameplay footage from 2013-2014.

The issue I have is weird. If I idle in game, it looks really good but in motion artifacts briefly appear on stationary objects. I'm doing a clean install right now.

 

[JeffMD]

I generally don't like to make my fps suffer so I don't mod GTA games. It really is a close pick between witcher 3 and gta 5, however I have to give the nod to gta5. There seems to be an extra step in environment interactivity that gta5 always has. For one, flight at all times. Its environment is sealed and continuous (barring the intro sequence which is actually a floating island that can be toggled on and off) and you can come at it at any direction. Aside from jumping off rocks, witcher 3 is mostly a 2d game gameplay wise. This is further compounded by the 3 zones it has which are sectioned off from each other. The game also relies on fast travel which is a kind of disconnect. GTA 5 simply allows you to use faster cars to shrink travel time. Infact the game tries to keep the world so continuous that it will show passage of time before a mission starts so day doesn't mysteriously become night for a mission.

As far as completeness in the world map, witcher 3 has the advantage of realtime foliage placement which works quite well and convincing. It still doesn't hide the fact there are hard natural barriers all over. Also most abandoned buildings that you can enter are still devoid of stuff and don't look impressive in anyways. Now GTA 5 has large swatches of desert whose only purpose is to create distance, but thats what deserts do! Complaining about that is like complaining about reality. On the other hand when you get to any population, from the trailer parks to the big city buildings, there is an amazing amount of detail in ALL OF THEM. I still can't believe when I walk into some back ally, any back ally, or between 2 houses, SOMEONE spent 30-60 minutes placing extra objects, and utilizing texture blends on the ground so it doesn't look untraveled. This is EVERYWHERE in the cities and towns. Even the farms and industrial complexes. Stuff that only %1 of players will see.

As for environment effects, gta 5 pretty much wins this. The lightning in witcher 3, while artistically accurate to its art style, is pretty weak. On the other hand GTA 5 actually diffuses its lightning bolt through the rain! Speaking of rain, witcher 3's cloud system for rain is wonky and cut and dry. 2 things I observed (also using a free camera mod to fly up an observe) 1) there will be rain and even lots of lightning well before enough clouds have formed, and 2) the game neither disables objects like the sun and yet does not create enough cloud cover to completely hide the sun.

Check out the second half of the time lapse I did, https://youtu.be/F8J_nyTDT54?t=66

You will notice lots of lightning well before any storm clouds have even formed. And during the worst parts of the storm when the sky is nearly black, lightrays still manage to find their way through and even shine on the ground. It gets worse on the horizon as you can see during sun rise, a ton of light slipped passed. Keep in mind Witcher 3's weather system, while it does maintain different zones throughout the map, the sky box is not based on this, it is only based on your current position. So if its rainy, the whole sky is rainy, even if 3000 yards from you it is not. Witcher 3 is also guilty of the "as long as you are in this area, it is always raining" syndrome. And in witcher 3, when it rains, its a monsoon storm, no small showers in this game.

On the other hand in GTA5, clouds are %100 real models, you can fly through them, and if its a cloud that looks like its over the south part of the island, it really I over the south part of the island. Also fog, is actually low flying clouds and not simply the view distance slider being manipulated. If you are in a dense fog (just did this yesterday btw), spawn a helicopter, fly up and you will see you can fly above the fog and see it sitting there along the ground while the mountain tops and sky are (somewhat) clear.

GTA 5 also has the better water, if only because it actually changes depending on if you are out to ocean or in a bay, and has some great underwater visuals... although currently no body beats what the team did in assassins creed 3 and 4. That was movie quality stuff there.

Speaking of things no one else has done yet, assasins creed unity get my nod for window boxes. While not quite creating an open world where every house can be entered, assassin's creed unity made sure %90 of its windows were actually a shadowbox environment with curtains, a backwall, and maybe things like a chair/table/misc objects. A great idea considering how many windows you need to climb over in the game.

Unfortunately I have not been able to play just cause 3 yet, from what I can tell however it probably wins for best pyrotechnics. But it still seems to center on outdoor scenarios and rarely do you need to engage on foot and indoors much.

 

[Gryz]

GTA V and the Witcher 3 are both exceptional games. Which of the two is better is a matter of taste. I played both. And very early on it was already clear that these two games were the best games since Skyrim in November 2011.

I though Dying Light was a pleasant surprise. The game doesn't have the depth of GTAV or The Witcher. But it makes up for that by the awesome movement. Best movement in any game ever. I hope in time all games will incorporate such movement. It would add to almost any type of game.

I haven't played Fallout 4 yet. But I'm sure FO4 is an entertaining game.
2015 was a good year. At least 4 good games with big open worlds. I doubt we will get any open-world games in 2016 that will be better than GTAV and TW3.

 

[futurefields]

Unfortunately I have not been able to play just cause 3 yet, from what I can tell however it probably wins for best pyrotechnics. But it still seems to center on outdoor scenarios and rarely do you need to engage on foot and indoors much.

JC3 explosions are nice but the map is a joke compared to GTA V. It has nowhere near the amount of hand worked detail in it. Like you said, just the task of having textured the world of Los Santos as well as Rockstar did, should be enough to make any fan of "graphics" jaw drop in awe. It is astounding that in that whole world with so much thickly layered and nuanced texture work there is not a bad seam to be found. The level of polish is insane. Agreed about the lighting and water as well, it is absolutely a solid notch above the competition.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Do you by chance have stock in Rockstar Games?

 

[Majcric]

Picked Grand Theft Auto from a technical standpoint. But witcher 3 was my favorite game of 2015 and close second.

 

[shortylickens]

Fallout 4 was not at all impressive. Its pretty much just Fallout 3 with more colors and Ambient Occlusion.

Loads of fun. But fun and impressive are two different things.

 

[aigomorla]

Not only that, but regardless of what you're driving and how many upgrades you have, cops will somehow always be faster and be able to knock you around as if you're driving a meter maid cart.

i laughed so hard at this comment because its so correct.

regardless of how many upgrades you have, how much armor you put on it, the cop will always be able to catch you and ram into you silly

I though Dying Light was a pleasant surprise. The game doesn't have the depth of GTAV or The Witcher. But it makes up for that by the awesome movement. Best movement in any game ever. I hope in time all games will incorporate such movement. It would add to almost any type of game.

I agree with what most reviewers said about it.
Parkor is now a must in all zombie apocalypse games.

 

[Raduque]

Based on gfx and technical achievement I'm going to say the Witcher 3. Disclaimer: I haven't played it.

Most fun for me was Mad Max. In between both is Fallout 4.

 

[futurefields]

Parkor is now a must in all zombie apocalypse games.

God I hope not.

 

[JeffMD]

Based on gfx and technical achievement I'm going to say the Witcher 3. Disclaimer: I haven't played it.

Most fun for me was Mad Max. In between both is Fallout 4.

Quit polluting the polls. -_-

 

[JeffMD]

i laughed so hard at this comment because its so correct.

regardless of how many upgrades you have, how much armor you put on it, the cop will always be able to catch you and ram into you silly

I can't say gta5 is a victim of the matrix cops syndrome. I've outmaneuvered them and outran them eventually in some of the most mundain cars on 1 and 2 stars. The thing is with 4 and 5 stars, they are given very fast cars and armored cars. So sure, their supped up super car can probably catch up to mine if I am not top speed, but at least it is their super car doing it and not their run of the mill patrol cars. My biggest problem was always the damn helicopter.

 

[futurefields]

It's easy. Called tunnels, they are everywhere.

What do you want, the cops to be super easy to evade on an open street when you have 5 stars? That would be unrealistic, cops are hard to evade in real life the criminals nearly always get caught.

 

[Stg-Flame]

So you're saying it's realistic when a single cop car can ram a dump loader from the quarry off the road as if it was made of paper mache? The last time I played GTA V and was just screwing around, the fastest car in the game - fully upgraded - wasn't able to outrun the cops. The heaviest vehicle in the game that isn't a tank or train was easily rammed off the road by the cops.

Lets not even mention the fact that if you stand too close to a pedestrian they will attack you or call the cops on you and any retaliation (ie. self defense) will give you a single star. You tap a car, they jump out, pull you from your vehicle, start shooting you the moment you get up, you punch them, the cops pull out their guns and kill you.

"Realism"

 

[futurefields]

You're not supposed to be able to outrun the cops, that would make it too easy and unrealistic. In real life, the bad guys almost never get away in a high speed pursuit situation.

 

[Raduque]

Quit polluting the polls. -_-

I didn't vote. :hmm:

 

[Carfax83]

Man, I know the Division isn't a 2015 title, but after playing the open beta, I must say that it blows every single one of the games in the poll out of the water from a technical perspective....including the Witcher 3.

Snowdrop engine is perhaps the pinnacle of DX11 game engines. The sheer amount of detail coupled with the enormous scale and seamlessness is very impressive. :thumbsup:

And it even runs well. I'm getting mostly 60 FPS at 1440p on an overclocked GTX 980 Ti (1493/8000) with every single setting maxed out, except for shadows which I have on high. PCSS has a hefty performance hit on this title as there is so much detail in the environment.

Also, there is some dynamic global illumination used, but not everywhere of course as it's still too expensive to be used all over..

 

[Fire&Blood]

Man, I know the Division isn't a 2015 title, but after playing the open beta, I must say that it blows every single one of the games in the poll out of the water from a technical perspective....including the Witcher 3.

Snowdrop engine is perhaps the pinnacle of DX11 game engines. The sheer amount of detail coupled with the enormous scale and seamlessness is very impressive. :thumbsup:

And it even runs well. I'm getting mostly 60 FPS at 1440p on an overclocked GTX 980 Ti (1493/8000) with every single setting maxed out, except for shadows which I have on high. PCSS has a hefty performance hit on this title as there is so much detail in the environment.

Also, there is some dynamic global illumination used, but not everywhere of course as it's still too expensive to be used all over..

Massive should have had the E3 lighting and details in the game with a slide show warning for those below a 980ti but then again, same can be said about CDPR.

Whatever PC was used back when that infamous first trailer dropped, should be much more affordable by now. Snowdrop does look impressive, I wouldn't be surprised if other Ubi franchises were to adopt it.

Cool video about details in Snowdrop/Division: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKtjDDsO6Y4

 

[Carfax83]

Massive should have had the E3 lighting and details in the game with a slide show warning for those below a 980ti but then again, same can be said about CDPR.

I think they made the right decision, at least for now. Too many drawbacks with the E3 lighting and details that can backfire such as:

1) Makes the console versions look very inferior, which is bad for selling PS4 and Xbox One units plus the console versions of the game itself. Games like this rely on hype to increase awareness and generate interest..

And most of the hype is due to the graphics and tech. So if the console versions are seen as dramatically inferior, the hype machine breaks down.

2) There is a vociferous breed of PC gamer that whines incessantly when they can't max out every single setting, and throw around words like "unoptimized" without having any inkling of what they are saying and expect every game to run at 60 FPS on their toasters.

For proof, see AC Syndicate. AC Syndicate has very sophisticated effects like HBAO+ Ultra and PCSS ultra which are really for the next generation of GPUs, yet so many people whined about the performance hit of running these effects.. D:

Whatever PC was used back when that infamous first trailer dropped, should be much more affordable by now. Snowdrop does look impressive, I wouldn't be surprised if other Ubi franchises were to adopt it.

The E3 demos like for the Division and the Witcher 3 are almost always either completely canned footage (some dude on stage pretending to play a game), or real time footage with as many performance taxing elements (like the A.I) removed that they can get away with without anyone noticing, whilst leaving all the eye candy intact.

And whilst PCs exist today that are capable of running both the Witcher 3 and the Division at E3 quality, those PCs are very much in the minority. It would take a high end SLI machine with an Intel hexcore/octa CPU to run the Division at E3 quality, and even then 60 FPS isn't assured because DX11 limits the processing power that is available..

From what I can tell, the E3 version used dynamic global illumination as the main lighting source, had much more detailed geometry, more objects in the scene, more detailed shaders..

Just not worth it right now. Maybe later on they can release a DX12 update with better visuals, which doesn't compromise performance since the API isn't the limiting the performance of the hardware as much as with DX11.

Cool video about details in Snowdrop/Division: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKtjDDsO6Y4

Yeah I've seen that video before. The physics in this game is exceptional. :thumbsup:

I actually think I will buy this game. I would have preferred if it was single player only, because I hate multiplayer. But as long as I can still play by myself, it's not much of a problem.