As someone who still has a PS3 and still plays games on it pretty regularly, they absolutely have. Not as noticeable of a difference or as huge of a jump as like PS2 to PS3, but graphics have definitely changed since the PS3 days

i think the main issue for me personally with hyperrealism is that real life already exists and is the pinnacle of that art style. like the whole point of it is to look like real life. whereas stylized stuff doesn't already exist so we don't have the perfect thing to compare them to

Graphics have definitely changed and improved over time, but honestly the latter half of the ps4 era with games like god of war, ghost of Tsushima and horizon forbidden west have a graphical style and standard that doesn’t need to be majorly shifted for a realistic graphical approach. It’s still obvious it’s a game, but it looks absolutely phenomenal.

I would absolutely say graphics have improved a ton since ps3 and are still improving. When I got my ps5, I booted up Hitman 3 and was just blown away by the first mission level/environment. The reflections, the color and lighting, everything. There's also been really great strides in terms of character animation in games, which I think will continue to improve a lot. It's just getting more and more realistic looking and (mostly) avoiding the uncanny valley imo. The progression of Nathan Drake over the main Uncharted titles, for example, I think demonstrates the change nicely. I think Detroit Become Human in particular is gorgeous in terms of the character movements, emotions, and naturalness.

One of the rare times where everyone agrees on a bad take

The improvements are more than just textures at this point. It's animations, lighting etc. 4k textures are probably at peak, but now we see things that bring in an extra realism dynamic.

They really are having a lot of L like how the fuck do you even think that demon souls remaster and last of souls doesn't have a lot of drastic graphic changes

There is a difference,it's just very small. The jump between ps2 and ps3 graphics is huge. As time goes by that jump became smaller

They've improved massively in every aspect. And we're still not even close to perfection. It's just that you don't exactly need the top notch tech to have the game look pleasing. It's less about fidelity and more about confidence in style and direction. I feel like the end of the current gen (9th gen, PS5, XSX) is where we'll hit the ceiling where it doesn't really matter going beyond. By 10th gen there'll be basically no limits to what can be done in a game.

This might be the worst take lmao

I think they’re letting nostalgia cloud their judgment on how far games have evolved graphically

The best thing about cel- shaded graphics aside from looking cool is the staying power. Like Joey said, a lot of these old cel- shaded games still hold up to this day. Games like Wind Waker and Okami still look good even though they were released 20 years ago.

I feel like late-gen PS4 graphics are the best that videogames need to look. I don't care about everything being ultra-realistic, this may sound funny but for me it just takes up storage space instead of wow'ing me. I'm playing Elden Ring and Okami at the same time and yet they both look equally beautiful, just in different ways.

I highly disagree. If you want to compare it,. than do it and compare it. Launch game on PS3 and PS5 next to each other and you will see how huge the difference is. Reason why you dont think difference is that big, is because brain remember it in a way that Graphics looked amazing at that time. Because it was best you could get at that time. But if you actually do comparison now you will see the difference. I like a lot of your opinions, but this one is just wrong.

I’m sorry but… What???

realism will always be quickly outdated and look ugly compared to cell shaded stuff. Stylisation and especially cell shading bring longevity and I wish more games would go down that route rather than realism, which frankfully, is often just boring or is not ven the best design choice. Maybe it"s because I am an artist, but realistic graphics never were appealing to me.

Maybe Garnt misspoke, but is he for real when he downplayed the difference between PS1 and PS2? Okay, bruh, look at Silent Hill 1 and then look at Silent Hill 2 and 3 and tell me there’s not much difference. But regardless, yes games do look significantly better since PS3. Something like the new Ratchet and Clank would never have been possible on PS3 and that wasn’t even a “realistic” style game in terms of visual style. But I guess some people have issues with visual distinction. I have a buddy who once told me he legit couldn’t tell the difference between DVD quality and Blu-Ray quality.

Graphics reached a point where they were all they needed to be years ago. Aiming for more photorealism at this point, while it can produce impressive results, guarantees the look of your game will age poorly, and wont set the looks of your game apart from ots competition. Art direction is far more important than graphics, thats where you can define a personality for your game, and ensure people remember it.

People are way too obsessed with graphics now. Gameplay is more important than graphics as long as they aren’t dogshit imo

I think a lot of people hold the same opinion because when talking about graphics, most people tunnel vision on only one thing: the characters. Ever since the first 3D game in PS1, most of the graphics budget has been 80% put on the character models and textures, while the environment has far much lower standards. The hardware improvements today means that there's so much more computational budget available now, the environmental artist can now afford to splurge as much as character artists, that the game environments are now catching up to the graphical fidelity of the characters.

I think the guys needs to look at some side by side videos

You have to be on drugs to think the graphics now arent a HUGE improvement on the graphics on the ps3 games

In a way, I agree with what they're saying. 2D to 3D was a huge change, as was PS1 to PS2, and PS2 to PS3. The thing is that those jumps are just getting perceptively smaller. Graphics aren't doing the "N times more polygons" jump as much anymore. Instead it's "hair now looks a lot more like hair than a solid block textured to look like hair" and "if we do this, we can make a gun realistically reflect light" and "we found a way to make lighting look a lot better". None of those are real paradigm shifts like switching from 2D to 3D or even early 3D generational jumps. Those were like framing a house, where the changes we're seeing now are more like painting the walls and doing interior design.

There is a huge difference comparing a PS3 game to a PS5.

I feel like they don't remember how ps2 and ps3 games actually look like

Honestly the jump between ps4 and ps5 barely feels like anything but ps3 to ps4 was a big leap tbh

I guess they've never played God Of War 4 the Graphics in that game are really next lvl

A lot of people confuse graphics. They'll say exactly what the boys said. But when you actually make the image comparisons. You'll see you're wrong. Also depends on developers to utilize the hardware. And lastly your monitor/TV quality will effect how you see it too.

I can't believe it took me this long to figure out this podcast wasn't named ironically

I feel the same as joey. I think the future is stylized games, since the only reason to upgrade in the future to a ps6 in the future will be new games more than it's capacity to handle better realistic graphics. Another way it might go is to make games with realistic graphics bigger (think in breath of the wild or genshin impact where the maps are huge) , but even in that point it's almost pointless. We already have games like that, because when you do big scenarios, you don't need (and even if you want to add them, you don't have the time to do) every detail, because from afar it will look good. Also there's a limit on how big you can make a map and don't make it feel boring because you have to walk 30 minutes to everywhere. To me, realistic games have a huge problem, and it's that, even in the best, most realistic games today, characters still feel unnatural. It doesn't matter how good the acting might be, when you step out of the cutscenes, there's something unnatural about how the interactions happens, and i don't think that will be resolved any time soon. This doesn't happen in stilized games, where you don't need to do every single movement of every muscle of a face right in order to get something good.

Tbf the title is objectively wrong

Artstyle>Graphics

Being born in 2000, I wasnt around to experience the jump from 2d to 3d, but for me, i think the biggest visual jump was in 2017 when I experienced a game in 60fps for the first time (Overwatch on Xbox One). Nothing has ever come even remotely close to that experience

Okami was gorgeous when it came out on PS2, and it's still gorgeous to this day. The watercolour/cell-shaded graphics of that game are timeless. Also most JRPG's released these days have cell-shaded graphics, like Scarlet Nexus, Tales of Arise, the Atelier games etc. I will always prefer this over "realistic" graphics.

Okay Garnt needs to play Rift Apart

Joey can't tell the difference between the remastered and original versions of games because he hasn't played the original version in like 15 years if he went back and played the original versions of these games that are in like 480p he'd tell the differnce immediately

The abundant HD remasters we had on PS3/Xbox 360 with barely noticeable improvement was mainly an effort to conveniently bring pre HD era games into current consoles. Most people had ditched, or were about to swap their CRT TVs for HD flatscreens. These HD screens were usually poorly optimised for analogue video output SD consoles. The only sidesteps to this would have been for people to have dedicated upscalers (like a RetroRink)/ HD mods/ early fully backwards compatible PS3s). Check out MyLifeInGaming and RetroRGB if you want to dive further into this rabbit hole of retrogaming and the best video output. I guess these companies relaunched these titles as (sometimes minimal effort) HD remasters when they realised money could be made from bringing back older titles stranded on older console and video hardware. I envy the early adopters that bought and maintained their backwards compatible PS3s. Also whilst the boys' take on minimal graphics improvement since PS3 generation is a bit of a sweeping generalisation - I kind of agree that the generational improvement is becoming more and more incremental on visuals. Kind of like how the 2D era was becoming between 3rd, 4th and part of 5th generation console gaming until 3D polygons revolutionised things. And I think Joey's point about artstyles being the bigger element in keeping things timeless is spot on. We're edging closer to hyper-realism, but (much like cinematography) ultimately an artsyle/art direction is going to be the differentiator.

before i was salivating over realistic graphics mods in GTAV, now games like Borderlands, Dead Cells, Deep Rock Galactic, Synthetik look better to me because they have artstyles that are memorable instead of looking realistic

Everyone in the comments are upset by this but i kinda agree. There is a difference between graphics and art style and if you look at the art styles of the ps1 era and ps2 era are VASTLY different then ps3,4 and 5

In all honesty, graphics is the last thing I care in a game, as long as I can tell what's in front of me I don't care if it's 4k or 480p, it doesn't ruin my experience.

This title is more stupid than putting grapes on pizza. Have y’all EVER played Spider-man?

They sound like they've only played 2 current-gen games

Generational gaps are huge because polygon/point space processing changed rapidly over 20 years, which is really noticeable. Today, we're still in the era of having super smooth models, but fine details and lighting, especially shading is now changing rapidly. Graphics still change constantly, but it seems to be all about fine details, combining objects to create more realistic scapes instead of using flat meshes, and better lightning

I think they don't realise that the resolution of older consoles was trash. They're probably used to seeing upscaled gameplay of wind waker on Emulator, and therefore think the difference between wind waker and wind waker HD wasn't as big.

jesus Christ ,might as well change the channel's name from 'trash taste' to trash takes

The graphics are absolutely better on PS5 as opposed to PS4, and on PS4 opposed to PS3...

I feel either you guys aren't paying attention to what you play or you haven't compared graphics in a long time before talking about it. Graphics are constantly improving. Sure those first few jumps were massive but that doesn't mean that progress just stopped. And you don't need to be a graphics snob or anything to see the difference.

The windwaker remaster just added a bunch of bloom and lens flare to everything

So the thing that people really don't seem to understand about "remasters" is that they're just ports. They only exist because if a game is old enough things need to do be done to it to make it work properly on a modern platform, the result of which will definitely look a bit different. They call it a "remaster" simply because there are people who will notice that it looks different; if they didn't do that then they would be obligated to make it look exactly the same, which might not be possible because hardware behavior has changed over the years. But the goal is not - nor has it ever been - to make it look "better", it's just to have it available on modern platforms for people to purchase. That said, it's rare for the result to come out worse, like that GTA thing. It takes some incredibly poor planning or budgeting to get that kind of result.

I love how this gen’s focused on having smooth, 60fps experience with minimal loading screens

I’d say that graphics have improved, but not to some amazing degree. The bigger issue is that gameplay hasn’t improved a whole lot since 360. All that modern games have is increased polygons or particles or actors on screen, but it feels like there is no reason these games can’t run on 360.

I remember Dunky talking about this in one of his videos, graphics in videogames have gone to a point of doing super little details that you will never notice unless you are in photo mode to see it, there hasn't been a huge jump since the PS2. but I feel the PS5 or the Xbox series X, might push the limit a little bit, since we haven't really seen a game that's exclusively created for the systems except maybe Rachet and Clank for the PS5. most games NOW have come out in the last gen as well.

Bad take

Graphics are still massively improving it’s just not such a stark contrast as it use to be , this generation it’s gone a lot more into lighting and just the small details and the density of what can be on screen if u compared things side by side the difference would be easy to spot in a lot of cases , instead of like ffIIV blocks for people to like actually real looking people, but we are now reaching a point where the detail is so high is legit hard to tell wether this is even a real person or not

HD remastered doesnt mean "improved graphic", its just mean that the game now run natively in 1080p instead of 480p. so you will get Windwaker to perfectly fit into your 16:9 screen instead of the old Wii 4:3 screen, no more of those ugly ass black bars that cover 1:3 of the screen

personally i feel that ps1 ear graphics have a really cool charm to them, becuase even when they tried for realism they jsut couldn't get close enough and it became an abstraction of realism, so it feels like its own style with its own merits artistically. For instance in ps1 era horror games, sometimes it was ahrd to make out what soemthing was meant to be, but it still feels ominous and like soemthing off and wrong, then your mind fills in teh gaps like "is that his mouth, wait... does his mouth has skin? is the skin gone? i cant tell... what the fuck happened to his skin????"

The biggest change is the consistency of performance and resolution for most games.

They Wind Waker vs Hd is huge, I think Joey needs to have a look at both of them again

The wii is just the gamecube with motion controls. It doesn’t have much if any hardware improvement if I remember correctly. According to a reply it is 2x more powerful than the GameCube. If they are correct I’m a dumbass ignore me.

At this point all I care about is Frame rate and load times. Just have decent graphics, decent mechanics, and a FINISHED plot. In recent memory, that last part doesn't happen. Look at Elden Ring, it has bugs, PvP is a net code mess, and AI can read your mind. It's still popular, because it looks good, mechanically competent, and the story has an ending.

You guys aren’t very informed on the topic. They have improved drastically. And I don’t even game.

In this point graphics don't matter anymore, what matter is more animations, better gameplay and artstyles are more important than a game where humans look more "realistic". Than be said, the generational jump between consoles help in all those aspects, more power have the console, more you can work those choices.

Change the name of the podcast to trash takes

I like how at 9:02 Connor described what the Gamecube version looks like instead of the HD Remake lol

Joey not knowing twilight princess was a GameCube game. It's fine I played it on the wii as well and seeing the original version trips me out since the entire game was flipped

I would say videogames picked in 2013, i still remember the first time i played Beyond two souls and could not believe the graphics, still looks great in 2022

Cel shaded has been a thing in the Borderlands franchise but yea the thing about cel shading is that it could be utilized back then with making 3d textures having details in the textures itself to create the illusion of depth. That's why it was so popular in the PS2 era

Most of the power in new consoles goes to assets on screen, lighting and reflections, ai, etc. theres a ton of stuff new consoles do but graphically its going to be smaller and smaller things that arent noticeable at first glance.

I don’t think that it can’t get any better. What I really think it is is that the jumps in technology are much smaller than they were back in the day. Each console generation in the past felt like huge improvements and we were also getting new genres of games. Going from 2-D to 3-D is a really good example of a large jump that people didnt know was possibly. The technology jumps that we get nowadays are slight improvements on already very good graphics. And all of the big innovations and gaming have basically already happened. I think this is why a lot of innovative people are jumping to VR. VR is one of those platforms that is just perfect for innovation. There is a lot left to make better. But when it comes to flatscreen games we have broken it down into almost a perfect science at this point.

If they want to play a VR game that's more than a tech demo as they put it I would suggest they take a look at The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners, they the most complex VR game I know of and it's really good.

As someone who's starting my blender journey, I disagree. Maybe to the naked eye? Sure but never to me. Still, graphics has come a long way.

Totally disagree. There have been jumps, just incremental. Play the Master Chief Collection, that's a perfect example. The graphical change between remastered 2 and non remastered 3 is jarring.

I started on a Super nintendo over 20 years ago but the jump between a console and PC is a very big difference especially adding on Re-Shades and replacing textures I've never seen something so real.

when it comes to older games being remembered as looking better, thats sorta because they did. They were just made for smaller screens than what we use as the standard today, and when you upscale it, it just doesn't look as good. N64 and PS1 era still looked weird even for the time though, not so much PS2/GC/Xbox EDIT: Posted before the topic of remasters came up. Twilight Princess was brought up before that and thats a game that showcases why I don't like remasters; a lot of remasters *remove* tricks that were used in the original game to hide visual issues, such as the use of bloom and fog to make the character models look less jagged. They also desaturated some areas in TP, including cutscenes, which kinda hurt the atmosphere of those locations and made things overall look worse than even the game on the Gamecube

Worst take of the year

Its not about the graphics back then its about the gameplay.

i think because most nintendo games are stylized we can forgive them not being hyper realistic since they're not trying to be.

Metroid prime still looks good today despite coming out in 2002 The remaster was good but I honestly wish they just ported the original on the switch

idk what FFX remaster Joey played but there is definitely a different in how it looks

vr gaming deathmatch or something as new special? would be dope to see

Ill admit graphics in games have been having smaller advances compared to before, but damn they more immersive now

we have hit the graphics barrier for awhile now and we need to let go of graphical fidelity games are the most fun when we focus on mechanics and and we use style over a reliance on graphics that is what we should do not continue to focus on graphics which can only get a little better and not to the point where most people will even notice

Many developer forget... Game have to be fun

Look at rdr and rdr2 and you'll see just how much it has improved. The PS5 generation has not really started yet. It's early to expect a very big jump when PS4 games are still being released.

They definitely have a ton, it's not as noticeable as ps1 to ps2 or ps2 to ps3 but it's still a pretty significant improvement, I think there is still quite a way until we hit a ceiling where things will sort fo stagnant in graphical fidelity and games will focus more on making themselves distinct through striking art direction or specific gimmicks rather than just being graphically beautiful

It’s easier to see the graphics improve if you compare games from early and late in a consoles lifespan.

Ah yes, the crew that doesn't play many games talks about how the limited amount of games they played haven't improved since the ps3.

I’m convinced Joey might need glasses after this episode

I think it's less that graphics haven't advanced as much as they have before and more the fact that developers have created more clever ways of hiding bad graphics and they've overall just gotten a lot better at hiding said "bad graphics", even in most PS4 games, if you look close you'll start to notice a lot of the limitations and compromises that developers took to get the game running, PS5 doesn't really have this problem right now as we are developing games with the PS4 still in mind but it will eventually get there, a couple of games where it is easy to spot polygonal and blurry assets are for example genshin and rainbow six siege, at a glace it looks great but if you start actually looking at details you'll easily spot something weird like say "hey this barrel barely looks like one" or "huh, this character detail is really polygonal"

no

PS3 = ice cream PS4 = oh, we have a variety of flavors of ice cream PS5= you want sprinkles on your Ice cream? Tell me I'm lying. Oh, and that will be $1 more for those sprinkles 😂😂😂😂😂

Bruh talk to digital foundry, and they'll have a problem with this take 😬

Keep in mind that with older games you played them on a CRT as a kid, going back and playing them now on an LDC, of course they are going to look worse than you remember because they were not designed for an LDC.

360/PS3 really was the last good generation of consoles. There's been a real downward trend in the quality of releases since. The games look a little nicer but they're just re-releasing the same old shit.

8:14 Wait, that’s San Andreas, not GTA 3 lol.

I think you guys need glasses.

Literally the worst take I’ve seen on trash taste

I mean last of us 2 looks a lot better than 1 or ghosts of Tsushima or either horizon or god of war 2018 or Elden Ring etc etc. If you actually use a PS3 now the difference is massive. I’ve owned a PS5 for like a year now though and honestly it doesn’t feel like this huge upgrade graphically from a PS4 at least to me. Like PS4 was easily good enough already even a launch title like killzone shadowfall looks great

Funny they talk about how graphics didn't advanced much this gen and Unreal 5 just came out

I'm pretty sure things have improved graphics wise to me at least in terms of performance. Games like Alien Isolation, The Evil Within, even Sonic Generations all look and play way better on later systems than they ever did on the PS3. With PS4/PS5 we do have more cross gen titles than exclusives that makes differences a little less obvious.