Beautiful Game Appreciation

[Brian Boru]

clouds moved a lot in the last two pictures

No they didn't, just looks that way—check the cloud 'horizon' line, where the big dark mass starts, you'll see it's the same.

First time I tried to catch lightning, so I was messing around in Photo Mode. One of the interesting things is the weather keeps 'happening' in PM—lightning keeps flashing, rain keeps falling… compare the rain streaks above her in 3rd, not there in 4th.

So I snapped a bunch of shots trying to catch lightning, but there's a ~¼ second delay between pressing 'take pic' and it happening, so sadly no blazing forks yet. What you're seeing are 2 different flashes caught with different levels of success—4th pic just has a lot more lightning in it.

It seems to be only environmental elements which keep moving during PM, as it's same with rivers and sea, but NPCs, animals, trucks, choppers etc freeze.

 

[mainer]

From The Witcher 3 Nex-Gen. This game is a dream for those that like to take screenshots, the challenge is finding the right balance between graphics and playable FPS. I'm still tweaking things because there are so many graphical options. The Photo-Mode is great, and far more robust and accessible than the one found in Mass Effect Legendary, with many more camera movement and graphical options available.

Yennefer (I took this only for the ray tracing reflections )

Geralt & Vesemir

Geralt & a young Ciri

Geralt

Geralt

 

[Zloth]

+1 for using Depth of Field properly in the last picture to keep the focus on Geralt!

-50 because this is the PC Gamer website and you didn't take a shot of Geralt in the Tub!?!?

 

[mainer]

+1 for using Depth of Field properly in the last picture to keep the focus on Geralt!

-50 because this is the PC Gamer website and you didn't take a shot of Geralt in the Tub!?!?

Acchh, but I did! I was more interested in looking at Yennifer at the time to post Geralt in the tub.

I'm spending as much time in the Photo Mode as I am playing the game at this point, as an avid screenshot taker I think you'd really love it, as there are so many options as well as camera angles/movement (much better than ME Legendary). There are several Depth of Field options, and it's taking me some time to get the right balance in each of the scenes.

Geralt, White Orchard, sunset

Geralt, White Orchard, nighttime

White Orchard, nighttime

Geralt, White Orchard, sunrise

 

[Zloth]

Maybe even more than you know! But I haven't finished Pathfinder yet. And I need to get to Mass Effect 2 before I forget too much. Arg!!! Retirement is coming soon.... coming soon... sooooon.....

P.S. Oh look, he's got Far Cry 6, too!

 

[Brian Boru]

he's got Far Cry 6, too!

Clearly a man of superior culture!

Great find, it never occurred to me there might be PM mods. That looks like a whole new game sub-genre on its own!

 

[Zloth]

Oh, I forgot to catalog my Doom shots from the last half of the game!

Weapons of Doom

The BFG 9000

The BFG 10K, from a distance

 

[Frindis]

A couple of pictures while trying out the Next-Gen update.

 

[ipman]

There was a time when I'd spend the whole session looking for good photographic style screenshots.

That perfect light, the right angle. Must try and do some in RD2.

 

[Brian Boru]

Far Cry 6 sunset…

…leads to nighttime:

 

[ipman]

I could probably spend days getting beautiful shots in RD2. It's hard to know what to make of the game, I really like it, but it's as contentless as the desert.

I think it's R*'s reaction to GTAV.

It's not satirical, it hails the American Western genre, it does show a game level of simulcrum as to life in 1900's America. I think in some ways it was just showing us what they can do in terms of 'reality', but also the landscape, and weather extremes.

I like these mists that obliterate much but radiate a certain light.

 

[mainer]

Maybe even more than you know!

I looked at that page you linked, but there's some big differences between what controls they list there and what controls I'm seeing in-game. For example, there are none of those miscellaneous controls, like time of day, time stop, increased LODs and a few more. I'm still pretty new with the control scheme, but I can't imagine that I would miss all those options.

Since there are 2 versions of Photo Mode, I wonder if some of those options are only for the classic version? I'll double check when I'm back in-game as well as go through the options screens from the main menu again (there are a lot of options to consider).

 

[Brian Boru]

I can't imagine that I would miss all those options

That's an external mod, not part of game.

 

[Zloth]

I looked at that page you linked, but there's some big differences between what controls they list there and what controls I'm seeing in-game.

You misunderstand - that's actually a fancy mod (add-on? hook-on?) that works with Unreal Engine to allow all those extra things, like stopping in-game cinematics, moving the camera around, and moving them forward/backward frame by frame. You can even plot (presumably dramatic) camera paths in order to make fancy videos, if you have the patience.

 

[mainer]

@Zloth & @Brian Boru - Okay, now I understand, thanks!

 

[Zloth]

Uhoh, they're learning to duck

I win!!! (At the easiest difficulty, and still barely made it)

Playing Doom 2 in Doom Eternal

 

[mainer]

One of the best features of the photo mode in The Witcher 3, is the camera movement controls with the adjustments to distance and angle, allowing you to get different shots of the same scene. A couple of examples showing the same scene from different focal lengths & perspectives:

 

[Brian Boru]

Morning mist effects are great—nice job

 

[ipman]

I always thought they did a good job of depicting water movement and colour and reflections in WD2. +good sailing sim.

 

[ipman]

For natural beauty it's hard to beat RD2. The landscape and the weather are important parts of the game, unlike many games where the environment is just a backdrop for action.

I like the way the clouds are continually putting the land into shade. It amazes me how they put all these interactive parts together and you have to take a pic quickly because it's always changing.

(Also noticed that RD2 has full colour blindness options> devs giving us options).

 

[Zloth]

I don't think I ever posted my RD2 shots! I "paused" the game, then never came back.

 

[ipman]

I've been putting the idea forward for a while that gaming is the new art form and RD2 makes that easy. (I probably should have turned my GPU settings up for that one).

It's a game I play when I want to relax, it's quite hard to play at such a laid back pace at first.

I've also been thinking that the real challenge is to find 'beauty' in games you wouldn't normally associate with that concept. GTAV can look amazing at night with the neon lights reflecting off the wet streets.

 

[Brian Boru]

find 'beauty' in games you wouldn't normally associate with that concept

Ah, the beauty of those decks of cards bouncing out towards you after winning a game of sol.exe—I found that strangely entrancing… but I got help in time

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndj0d7pNsZA

gaming is the new art form

I completely agree. Takes precedence for me 10 times out of 10 over books, movies, music, TV, static visuals, quilt stitching etc.

Build my own quilt of cities, write my own story, capture my own stills and movies—and they all come with music already, if you don't want to make your own!

 

[ipman]

Yes pleasing video of cards, and fun.

That's the future, when we're all given the tools to be actively creative.

I used to enjoy in WD2 that you could switch to the drone flying overhead and get a 'directors view'. I would then call gang hits or police raids on an enemy compound and it was like orchestrating an action film.

 

[Zloth]

A few more Red Deads....

It's night! Really it is!