Graphics settings are an absolute staple of PC gaming. We love being able to tweak and prioritise, finding the right balance between visuals and performance that suits us. When a developer gets this wrong, the bad news klaxon begins to sound, Just look at the original Dark Souls, which was a slapdash PC port if ever we’ve seen one.
While playing on consoles though, you’re basically stuck with whatever the developers think you want. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer 60 frames per second, or you’d be happy with a resolution drop for improved graphical detail - you get what you’re given.
Things may be set to change though, with the new Star Ocean 4 remaster on PlayStation 4 including a whole suite of graphics options to tweak that we’d normally only expect from PC games. This includes Shadow Buffers, Anti-Aliasing, Texture Resolution, Character Draw Distance, Depth of Field and Camera Blur. To the best of our knowledge, we’ve never, ever, seen a console game match the PC version point for point on graphics settings.
Star Ocean 4 isn’t wholly alone in this matter though. Since the arrival of the so-called iterative consoles, the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X, a number of games have offered rudimentary performance choices to players. You can play Nioh at 60fps / 1080p for example, or bump it up to 30fps / 4K. On the Xbox One X you can either play Gears of War 4 with the best possible graphics at 30fps / 4K, or downgrade the graphics slightly for 60fps / 4K. There’s an element of decision making there that console players have never had to make before.
But should the template laid down by Star Ocean 4 become the de facto standard for console players? While choice is usually good, the chief selling point of a console over a PC is that there’s not very much to mess around with. Lose this, and does console lose another USP? I think the general consensus among all but the absolute power users picking up the Xbox One X or the PS4 Pro is that they probably don’t want to mess around with graphics settings and would prefer to leave it to the devs to nail down the perfect balance. There’s an argument that this is a stuck in the past approach though, and the choice to fine tune can never be a bad thing.
What are your thoughts on this progression from Star Ocean 4? Should PC-style graphics settings become commonplace on consoles? Let us know!
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PC Specs
For me. It depends on the hardware of the console. PC graphic settings quality usually uses high end gpu's or has two gpu's. Whether it is an SLI/crossfire. So getting a graphical settings equal to pc should have high end hardware specs.
PC Specs
Problem I see with PC graphics settings on consules is that you cannot track your FPS like you can on PC. You will not be able to see exactly how much each setting is affecting your frame rate.
PC Specs
with FPS though, it's kind of out of sight, out of mind. It either feels bad or it doesn't, and if a counter is needed to indicate that, then it's probably not that bad.
PC Specs
Only thing I would like to toggle in Console titles is the Motion Blur. It's really annoying.
PC Specs
Why fix what's not broken.
Although, I would love to be able to turn off 'Depth of Field' and 'Motion Blur' in almost all games. And the option to reduce settings for 60fps would also be great.
PC Specs
I see no reason why not, but perhaps bit more simplified towards aiming to certain goal, like 60FPS vs ultra high graphics but at lower FPS, or higher resolution. I don't think consoles need everything PC has, due to much less variation in hardware. Since on PC you don't know who will play with 1080, RX580 or GTX460.
PC Specs
Hey... why not... I mean if they are only allowing the settings changes within a limited parameter that will not damage/overheat the system then go for it.
On the other hand shouldn't the developers find the sweet spot for their software on the console hardware and just release their games fully optimized? Does this mean that consoles are going to start getting the PC treatment on optimization? SMH
PC Specs
Rudimentary choices SHOULD exist. There are a plethora of games I'd rather play with slightly diminished visual appeal coupled with 60 fps. The option should exist. Max quality for 30fps; reduced quality for 60fps.
PC Specs
There should be a resolution option and a preset 30fps and 60fps option. 30fps will have the best of everything. 60fps will have the best performance. make these optional. 30fps for the witcher 3 and 60fps for Call of duty. only way i see it happening.
PC Specs
PC games run on a vast number of different hardware. So the graphics option is a must. But on consoles, it should be the developer's job to find the max settings for the selected console.
PC Specs
Should console's be upgradable?
PC Specs
no...
PC Specs
This is an off topic question but If I set my 4k tv's desktop resolution to 2k and then watch a 4k video. Will the quality be in 4k or 2k? And is it gonna be the same for youtube videos?
PC Specs
nope if u watch a 4k video on 2k then it's still see the same 2k image what's the difference? u can zoom in the video without losing quality to some extend and it's the same with youtube(still a video); it's different for games through!
PC Specs
maybe in the new consoles like Xbox One X and PS Pro where the graphic power to choose between 4k and better 1080p visual but that should be it like a switch not like PC options!
PC Specs
Consoles should be just plug and play. Games should be made and optimised as the "best experience" for consoles. I have a friend that does not like to play on PC due to the vast amount of options where his XBone just need to turn on the TV, and choose the game. IMO, by allowing options for consoles, it would make developers lazy and would make less optimised codes.
PC Specs
if people want to be able to choose graphics settings for more frames then they could simple it down to be like "30 fps mode and 60 fps mode" in the options will having a few things like motion blur and film grain be seperate options
PC Specs
What constitutes "best experience", though? 30 fps, regardless of how great something looks, is unacceptable to me in a video game, for example, so the presets for max res/quality at 30fps are trash in my eyes. 60+ fps - now we're talking, but someone else will argue that they prefer a nicer image and that they somehow can't see beyond 30fps - so the 60fps experience is not for them. Solution - choice!
PC Specs
Despite it is uncharacteristic of consoles to have these options. I believe giving people choices is still a good thing. We live in era that game configuration can be changed on the fly without long load or rebooting. Presets would be nice
PC Specs
I can see offering a choice between 60 fps lower graphics vs 30 fps higher graphics, but as far as full PC settings, I don't see the point.
PC Specs
Why not? Let user set their own configuration. Just because console are limited, doesn't mean it can't. Console is a "PC" too.
PC Specs
I don't see the point. Consoles are closed systems with specific non-variable hardware. The games ought to be optimized for this. The last console I owned was the Gamecube so what do I know...
PC Specs
no, there should be extra texture packs and everything for higher and lower resolutions and for mid cycle refreshes but those options should be locked out for users and can only be used in mid cycle refresh consoles and/or if a better or lower res tv is used. When I play a console game, I don't want to be fussing about with options for the perfect 60fps experience as no console (yet) can be overclocked to compensate for higher sets, I just want to sit down and play
PC Specs
IMO there should only be a "High Performance" and "High Quality" options, nothing more complex.
PC Specs
My answer is Yes and No, because it would be nice to have some options but not necesarilly too many. Motion blur as an On and Off option is a must, but the other ones i would like are for higher frames, for the cost of quality and quality for the cost of frames. It's better to let the consumer choose, but let's not take it any further than a few simple options like these.