Ryse on the Xbox One is one of this generation’s best looking games. Now that it’s on PC, it’s even better looking. And yet, people aren’t really sitting up and taking notice. According to Crytek, it’s because it’s harder to impress people these days.
Speaking to DSO Gaming, Crytek’s Principal Rendering Engineer Nicolas Schulz says it’s becoming increasingly difficult to wow consumers with graphics.
“I think with its advances in material quality, lighting and the quality of facial animations, Ryse is extending the boundaries of realtime graphics quite a bit again.” Shulz said.
“Generally though, as opposed to the times of the original Crysis, we as an industry have reached a quality level now where it is getting increasingly more difficult to really wow people. That said, there’s still enough areas to explore and we will definitely keep pushing the boundaries as much as possible.”
Personally, I think it’s more that gamers are starting to realise that it’s not just about graphics. While Crytek’s games have always tried to push graphical envelopes, their actual games have always had a little something missing – and that something tends to the sort of things that make games fun to play, or engaging.
Crysis 3 did its best to fix that, with an actual narrative but didn’t quite overcome Crytek’s tradition of putting graphics over gameplay and narrative. When developers magically manage to tie up all three, people certainly do sit up and take notice – something Naughty Dog knows all too well.
Last Updated: October 3, 2014
HvR
October 3, 2014 at 12:05
Crytek has always been the very pretty dumb blonde model of the gaming industry; jaw dropping beautiful when you first meet her after 30 seconds of conversation you realize she is only good at taking selfies and sucking lolly-pops and you loose interest once she is finished with the lolly.
geelslang
October 3, 2014 at 12:27
Not true. At the very least Crysis 1 was amazing, both graphics and gamplay. Has a metascore of 91.
geelslang
October 3, 2014 at 12:36
and lets not forget Farcry 1.
Rags
October 3, 2014 at 13:55
It had some of the most horrible gameplay of any fps ever. Oh man the input lag of that game is still felt in CryEngine 3. Nevermind the bugs and hit detection issues and horrible netcode. One of the worst FPS games apart from the graphics ever made. From the top of my head I can only think of DNF as being worse.
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
October 3, 2014 at 13:57
Can’t agree. The first Crysis (While a little buggy) was a really fun semi-open world shooter that set a trend for FPS from that point out. It was good. 2 and 3 were mediocre at best however
Rags
October 3, 2014 at 13:58
Talking about Far Cry 1 here 🙂
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
October 3, 2014 at 14:16
oh… well then nevermind. Carry on. As you were
geelslang
October 3, 2014 at 14:02
Not the experience I had.
oVg Definitive and Remastered
October 3, 2014 at 12:05
I don’t care if Crysis 5 looks like real life.
Ill take The Last of Us over a brain numbing FPS game ANYDAY.
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:22
Just get a room already!
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 3, 2014 at 12:28
What’s he going to do when he gets tired of TLOU?
Lord Chaos
October 3, 2014 at 12:30
Give it the house, and the car, and half of his pension?
Alien Emperor Trevor
October 3, 2014 at 12:33
Exactly what my ex-boss told me to do when I find a woman I like enough to marry, instead of actually getting married.
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:38
HAHA! Wise words.
kaylanos lokj
October 28, 2014 at 16:59
implying fps’s cant be brainy. should i remind you of deus ex 1?
geelslang
October 3, 2014 at 12:06
The China episode of An Idiot abroad is the greatest travel program episode in history.
Hammersteyn
October 3, 2014 at 12:07
I liked the one in India as well.
oVg Definitive and Remastered
October 3, 2014 at 12:08
He also had the shits there.
oVg Definitive and Remastered
October 3, 2014 at 12:08
“It just smells of… shit, and everyday I had the shits.
I think think people go abroad just to have the shits.
AND THE NOISE…”
Bwahahahaha
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:23
I must give you all the seasons bro.
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:23
I couldn’t agree more man! So many lols!
Umar
October 3, 2014 at 12:08
Yup, this is based on the assumption that to wow people, developers need to constantly push the boundries of graphics. While true, art direction + narrative is enough to really meet and exceed gamer’s expectations (Journey anyone?).
Dutch Matrix
October 3, 2014 at 12:11
Uh, how’s about how the game actually plays?
Umar
October 3, 2014 at 12:12
Well for me, sometimes the gameplay doesn’t actually matter
Dutch Matrix
October 3, 2014 at 12:16
…
http://media.youthink.com/images_quiz/2014/03/28/100_387131133.jpg
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:23
Well he likes FF13? *RUNS
Umar
October 3, 2014 at 12:25
Like your face
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:39
Oh you, blush.
CAE9872
October 3, 2014 at 12:34
Whahahahaha
Dutch Matrix
October 3, 2014 at 13:42
The thing that seriously worries me is that a reviewer, for this site nogals, just admitted that he does not always care for gameplay. Easiest way to make me distrust anything he says, to be honest.
Maybe I’m old school, but how a game plays is more important than great narrative or uniqueness of the game.
Umar
October 3, 2014 at 12:25
Games like Deadly Premonition stand out as one the most unique games I have ever experienced. But the actual gameplay is horrible
CAE9872
October 3, 2014 at 12:33
Agreed 100%
Ryanza
October 3, 2014 at 12:08
If you want gamers to be impressed by a game you have to give amazing graphics, really good story and fun gameplay. Crytek has just been focused on graphics for many years. Crytek games are seen as tech demos. Crysis wowed us but now we can get good graphics else where.
Why are people so excited for The Witcher 3 because The Witcher 2 gave us good graphics, good story, difficult combat (no hand holding and fun to learn and figure it out). Why are people so excited for Cyberpunk 2077 because of what The Witcher 2 gave us and one trailer.
Crysis 3 was a good looking meh.
oVg Definitive and Remastered
October 3, 2014 at 12:10
Dont forget MATURE story telling. An adult game for adults. Very rare these days.
Ryanza
October 3, 2014 at 12:10
ah yes and that. Boobies.
oVg Definitive and Remastered
October 3, 2014 at 12:12
It was tastefully done.
I cant say the same for Duke Nukem forever.
Ryanza
October 3, 2014 at 12:18
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/The_Witcher_2_launch_in_Kiev.jpg
Mike
October 3, 2014 at 12:31
That seems tasteful to me. giggity
Hammersteyn
October 3, 2014 at 12:11
Doom 1 and 2. Simplistic as hell. Not much too look at, still holds up very well by todays standards
Viking Of Divinity
October 3, 2014 at 12:14
Doom 1 was cutting edge technology at time of release. Dynamic Lighting and sloped surfaces and all that. 🙂
Hammersteyn
October 3, 2014 at 12:20
Yes it was and the gameplay was fast and frantic. The music kept you pumped up. It was designed to play on as high a difficulty setting as possible.
geelslang
October 3, 2014 at 12:21
I think Crytek gets more crap than they deserves about their games. Crysis 1, 2 and 3 were all good shooters that happened to have amazing graphics. We need people to push the envelope when it comes to technology. I cant wait for Crysis 4.
konfab aka derp
October 3, 2014 at 12:32
I tend to agree, there is nothing more fun then going through the entire first level of Crysis 1 using only your suit powered fists.
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:21
The Great Bore of China. Been there, pissed on the Chinese side.
CAE9872
October 3, 2014 at 12:32
I didn’t think was boring – quite spectacular to see it in the flesh though. But yeah it is just a pile of rocks stacked neatly…for one moerse long stretch.
RinceThis
October 3, 2014 at 12:40
I think it was cus I was fucking irritated with this person who literally followed us for the 5 hours we walked trying to sell postcards. I shit you not. Also, my mate had dumplings there and a coke, coke cost him like $15. Total tourist trap. ALSO. YOU CANNOT SEE IT FROM SPACE CHINA!
HvR
October 3, 2014 at 12:59
Well you can anything from space larger than 30cm by 30cm, depending on the size of your telescope and your orbit.
CAE9872
October 3, 2014 at 13:14
Man those sellers! They are irritating as all hell; and no question it is a tourist trap. BUT ignoring all that it is still a spectacular thing to see what they achieved. And least we can say we have seen it.
CAE9872
October 3, 2014 at 12:31
Yip no question about it! And a good thing too – now we don’t overly “worry” about graphics as they just done – we kinda notice if they not up to par as opposed to other way round; as it should be. So hopefully teams can start concentrating on things like AI, story, dialogue, etc.
Sir Rants A Lot Llew
October 3, 2014 at 13:53
Agree with you Geoff. It’s because we don’t care so much about the graphics. Story trumps graphics every single time. Hands down.
Now, excuse me while I go salivate over an SLI 980 rig with 32GB RAM and top of the range i7 all liquid cooled up the wazoo running Crysis3 on max settings……….
Joe Black
October 3, 2014 at 14:19
Geez… Its like listening to robots discussing how to make the best games. It’s just the indie games community that still brings that “we’re excited to bring this game to the market, because we want to play it”. With the exception of Valve… They still seem to be able to care about game play.
UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy
October 3, 2014 at 14:39
KARL! xD BEST!
Norman Pleasant
October 3, 2014 at 15:47
Hit the head on the nail, Geoffrey. While Crytek are generally good at backing up their graphical wizardry with solid game sorcery, they have to realise that it’s better to wow people with great story and gameplay than any amount of shiny sparklies. I think Bungie have been learning that to their detriment as of late.
Brian Murphy
October 3, 2014 at 17:51
I love an Idiot Abroad. That show is amazing. Poor Karl, being at Ricky Gervais beck and call…must be hell. Then again, Karl is a rather ‘unique’ individual. heh.
Treezle
October 6, 2014 at 10:17
Not true. When I first played Crysis 2 it fokken WOW’ed me. Still enjoy that game to this day. Crysis 3 was also excellent.