I will almost always recommend the PC edition over the console edition. You have access to more graphics options, more opportunities to optimize performance, and a community-driven support system for modding or fixing your games. This is especially true as the current generation of consoles begins to show its age.
But there’s still an unsung advantage of console gaming over PC, and Square Enix Said brings the advantage that PS5 has over PC into the spotlight.
Forspoken on PS5
Forspoken PS5 quality vs. performance vs. ray tracing
Starting with the PS5 version, you have access to three modes: Quality, Performance, and Air Tracking. The quality has a variable frame rate that never went below 30 frames per second (fps) in my testing. Ray Tracing also has a variable frame rate that hovers around 30 fps and includes ray-traced shadows, but no ambient occlusion or reflections. Finally, Performance mode tries to lock the game at 60 fps, occasionally dropping to around 55 fps, and lowers the resolution and draw distance.
For resolution, the game uses dynamic resolution to try to keep the frame rate consistent. It ranges between 4K and 1440p, with performance mode closer to 1440p and quality mode closer to 4K. These differences in resolution can also have a big impact on how the game looks.
In particular, the Ray Tracing mode has some significant artifacts as it tries to reconstruct a 4K image. This is by far the weakest mode, not only because of the aggressive size increase, but also because of the minimal visual impact of ray tracing in Said (more on that in the next section).
Out of quality mode, Said it also includes a 120Hz mode, but it’s a bit deceptive. This limits the resolution, but the game doesn’t actually reach 120 fps. Instead, it just outputs a 120Hz signal and uses it to achieve 40fps in quality and ray tracing modes (usually unsuccessfully).
Forspoken: PC vs PS5
Forspoken PS5 vs PC quality modes
For testing, I used a personal computer equipped with a Ryzen 5 5600X and an AMD RX 6600 XT graphics card. This machine is more expensive than the PS5, but it is about the same power. You can watch the video above to see how it looks overall.
Instead of Dynamic Resolution in the PS5 version, I used AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2) to compare Performance and Ray Tracing. I also kept the game at standard graphics settings, which led to some interesting differences between the PC and PS5 versions.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
The PC version looks worse at first glance. The PS5 version seems to favor textures closer to the camera and uses an enhanced version of those textures. You can see the huge difference in stone quality above, with the PC version looking far less detailed.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
These enhanced textures are available in the PC port at higher quality levels, but reveal how the PS5 version handles them differently. In this same scene, you can see how much softer the edges are around Frey on PS5. Also, the grass is blurry in the PS5 version while it’s clear on PC.
In terms of performance, FSR 2 works wonders for a PC port with ray tracing enabled, allowing the game to run at nearly 60 fps. Similarly, with ray tracing turned off, the PC can maintain 60fps with FSR 2 turned on in Balanced mode, while the PS5 occasionally drops a bit lower.
The problem with the computer is the frame rate. In Quality mode, you can see how much stuttering there is despite an average frame rate that’s not far off the PS5. As I will explore in the next section, the computer port Said it never feels like it’s running smoothly, no matter what your framerate is.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
Another big area where the PC and PS5 editions differ is ray tracing. PS5 supports ray-traced shadows, while the PC version supports shadows and global lighting. Unfortunately, neither does much. There isn’t much of a performance hit and I hardly noticed any difference in image quality.
It is possible that this is now a bug. Regardless, I recommend keeping ray tracing off on PC and PS5.
Big problems with PC connection
Square Enix
There are several major problems with the computer port Said. First and foremost is the frame rate. As you can see in the performance comparison above, an equivalent PC can achieve higher performance than the PS5, but it doesn’t do so consistently.
I haven’t found any major issues with stuttering, at least not at scale Gotham Knights or Elden Ring. There were a few stutters, but the bigger problem was the inconsistent frame times. Even averaging 60 fps, the frame time would jump from 16 milliseconds at one point to over 40 ms, and back and forth. Even worse is the inconsistent frame rate, so the frame time window keeps moving.
The result is that Said it never runs smoothly on a computer. Even with FSR 2 available, the game is never consistent. You can improve the frame rate and the overall performance is not bad for lower end hardware. But even with tricked-out gear, uttered’Average frame rate tells only a fraction of the performance story.
Image used with permission of the copyright holder
There may have been a memory leak stated, also. In about an hour of play, I went from 6GB of memory usage to just over 9GB, and it was a consistent climb. The new partitions would cause the memory to grow before data was flushed, but the base usage would increase.
If you’re not familiar with a memory leak, it’s when all the data that should be flushed from memory isn’t, causing the usage to slowly increase the longer you play the game. That might explain why Said requires 32 GB of memory for recommended system requirements.
It’s easy to show memory leaks, but hard to test the impact. If you don’t have a lot of RAM in your system and you’ve been playing for hours, expect performance to steadily decrease as RAM usage increases.
Buy it on PS5
FSR 2 is a huge improvement for the PC port stated, but it’s hard to ignore possible memory leaks and the game’s inconsistent framerate. The PS5 version runs much smoother, even if it occasionally falls below the target frame rate.
The good news is that the PC version doesn’t have much of an advantage over the PS5. Ray tracing does next to nothing right now, and even though you can get higher fps, the game still runs at 120fps on PC.
Editor’s recommendations
Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn