Poll: Does The Last Guardian Dazzle After a Decade?

Whilst I haven't and won't be buying, it still looks like a PS3 game at its core to me. Before anyone says you can't tell from a youtube video etc, you can see a lot on a 4k youtube video playing on the app on a smart 55" TV - enough to get a very good idea of how it will look in reality. Its not like I watched a video on a mobile phone!

Its obviously had some work done since the original reveal but it looks like a remastered PS3 game to me. I was never a fan of the artstyle and it wasn't ever a game I wanted since its initial reveal 7years ago. Each to their own of course but I doubt I would bother even if it was free on IGC.

Was interested when it was first unveiled. Since then I've seen and played 100s of new games and this game has fallen passed boredom into indifference and I really don't care about it in the slightest.

I watch the trailers and game plays videos for it and I find it boring and switch off before the end of the video normally.

A HUGE pass

It still looks like a remastered PS3 game to me. You have some pretty amazing backdrops and a simplistic and cartoonesque looking boy - something that wouldn't be amiss on the PS3 version. Trico has some nice feathers which I admit would be difficult for the PS3 to cope with - especially the movement in those but the face is still very angular as if the polygon count isn't that high - look at screenshot 6 here for example. Foliage appears more detailed and complex too but again its what you may expect from a remaster - same with water effects.

I admit I haven't seen everything the game offers but what I have seen isn't all that impressive. Add in the technical issues like pop up, frame rate drops, camera issues etc as well as the style of gameplay it offers (not something I would play), I have no interest and still feel its a PS3 game that's been remastered for the PS4 even if it wasn't released for it.

Just because it has some 'sensational' set pieces later on, doesn't mean the bulk of it hasn't been remastered from what was created for the PS3 with those bits tacked on to finish the game for release.

I got to play some of it cause of a friend, and I wasn't impressed with it. I can see some people liking it, but it definitely isn't a game for me.

I will be giving this a miss even at a tenner the last two Ico and Shadow of the Colossus never did anything for me.

Yes its cute and artistic but that's it.

I like it, trico is adorable, its just like having a cat, sometime it doesn't follow you and do whatever it want

@BAMozzy There's more to a game than resolution and framerate, ps3 can't handle trico ai. I think this is the first time ai companion in a game that never stand in my way, trico really behave like animal (cat), not just some helper. Some game like doom have better graphics but all the ai do is: see protagonist -> shoot.

@DESS-M-8 Man why are you here if all you do is trolling? Ign and gamespot is that way..

I'm like...interested. I've never played ICO and I just couldn't get into Shadow of the Colossus for whatever reason. So I feel like this needs to be a bargain bin purchase or a rental to show me that I'm going to enjoy it. There are some companies where for some reason I just don't like their style of play - for me, it's Rockstar. I can appreciate the quality of their games - I just can't get into them. And I've tried a bunch of different styles.

But back to the topic - I need to see that it's not just the same and I won't buy this and regret it immediately.

@wiiware I know there is more to gaming than just resolution but frame rate is very important. You wouldn't want to play this at 15fps regardless of how it looks. The question though was does this 'dazzle' and the answer in my case is no. AI may well be better than the PS3 could handle although I and you can't prove that. However simplistic the enemy AI is in games like Doom, Uncharted or some other 'shooter', there is often multiple enemies all with their own AI on screen at once. Uncharted for example also has companion AI along with multiple enemy AI too.

I know its the artstyle, but the cartoonesque boy doesn't dazzle as much as someone like Nathan Drake with the incredible facial animation. Games like Doom may have much better visuals but also run at 60fps which is impressive. Uncharted not only looks better but also have much more detail and most of that detail isn't static either. Shooters may seem 'dumb' but then you also have bullets/projectiles flying everywhere and they have to be calculated and tracked. That driving sequence in Uncharted (after the market shootout) was also very impressive from a technical sense with objects having accurate physics in case of collision as well as things like the mirrors reflecting accurately, the aerial and fuel can moving appropriately - I could goo on but these games are on a technically superior level. Whether their story touches you emotionally or not is a different matter. I think games like the Last of Us, Nathan Drake collection, Tomb Raider (definitive) , Modern Warfare etc - all remasters are technically superior and 'dazzle' more.

@get2sammyb You're still finding it hard to believe this game actually finally came out, aren't you?

I'm planning on dedicating a cold dark weekend to it in Feb w/ a rental from Redbox.

@adf86 Same here, played the first two hours today. I understand the camera and framerate complaints, I've seen some frames drop and there was one instance where the camera acted up a bit funny; however, the criticism that the AI is bad? I don't get that at all. In fact, the contrary is true, I'm very impressed with the AI.

Will wait for a sale

@BAMozzy it's nowhere near a ps3 game lol the only reason anybody even says that is because of it once being in development for ps3 but no it doesn't look like a ps3 game. If you never liked anything about it or have no intention of playing it even if free why come to an article about it.

If anyone's been playing it on an original PS4, how has the frame rate been?

Masterpiece

@BAMozzy sorry but no, this is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played and not just because of the lighting but the graphical fidelity on everything is great ESPECIALLY trico who would not be possible on PS3, not liking the style of a game doesn't mean it looks like it came from a previous generation of hardware, TLG looks amazing.

The game is gorgeous. Plain and simple. The art style makes it even more beautiful. I really dislike the notion of realism being the only way to impress. Man I get sick of realism all the time... realism realism realism realism realism... it's all anyone ever seems to want anymore.

Anyways, I do have one major gripe. The camera. It is absolutely HORRID. And not just some of the time either... it's horrid ALL the time. It's just crap camera controls, plain and simple. If it would just control like a normal video game it would be perfection... seriously, this game is a masterpiece but it's a flawed masterpiece. It's hard to enjoy its brilliance when you're constantly fighting with the camera.

Problem is that even if sales are good they still ain't shown enough of the game in their marketing.

I would get this one for $20 or less. If I could rent games here I would.

@JaxonH

One of the things I hated the most about Shadow of the Colossus was the camera. It just won't stand still, and when you adjust it, it just tries to go back to its cumbersome initial position.

@adf86 Yeah I'm confused when the critics say trico doesn't follow them while when I played it, trico always follow me around. Maybe because I always try finding the food and give it to trico, like when I see food around I made it my mission to get it and give it to trico. I just like seeing trico eat the food, and I always pet him.

@BAMozzy I'm not saying the last guardian is technological excellence, I'm just saying this game can't be done on ps3. Fumito ueda game always run like pants on playstation, but you can't run it on lesser playstation (ico/sotc on ps1 for example).

But still, I think it's refreshing that AAA game can focus on other things rather than graphics, this is why I buy playstation, you just can't get this kind of games on other places.

@Switters Smooth 30 fps indoor, 20 fps on open place with a lot of tree, maybe 20-25 fps ish on open place with not many tree. I'm playing about 3-4 hours in the game so I don't know the fps on later level of the game. The not perfect fps doesn't bother me at all, I'm too busy enjoying the game exploring the level and climbing trico to pet him

I've only played for about 40 minutes so it's a but early to call it a masterpiece, but so far I really like it.

£20'er for me I will get it one day just doesnt look like there's enough in it in the video's i've see to get overly excited about. And dare I say it, but that cute cat look's more like a cat with scabies?!?

I've been pretty busy so I've only managed to pump in 2 hours, but my initial reactions are overwhelmingly positive.

Definitely not PS3 graphics. The game looks fantastic on my OG PS4. I'm not surprised that the PS4 struggles at times. It reminds me of Ni no Kuni on PS3 were something that pretty for that art style had never been seen before.

Like others have mentioned, I've been feeding Trico regularly & he's been very obedient.
Speaking of Trico they really nailed the animal traits. I'm a dog owner and the little intricate things Trico does is probably lost on most non-pet owners, but I can really appreciate it.

Hope people aren't writing this game off, based on a few dropped frames.

For all those that are criticising my opinion, maybe you shouldn't watch Digital Foundry's tech analysis of this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzVgXBgUn68

They clearly state that it has its roots clearly in the PS3 build in a number of areas including some of the game-play elements - like camera for example.

@BAMozzy Don't think they're criticizing, just disagreeing! Personally, I think it looks amazing and very impressed. May try tweaking the camera control speed but have just been spellbound by the world. Trico has been following me no problems, feels almost real in its behaviour at times and I've found myself talking to the screen, like a real pet. Which is slightly worrying.
It's really an experience more than a game to me thus far and can't wait to delve in deeper.

@sinalefa No place to rent games at all huh? This game seems like the perfect weekend rental to me. Well maybe a little long, 6-8 hour game is the perfect weekend rental. Between Gamefly, Redbox and my decent library collection no reason to buy this unless it was $10 on PSN.

@stevejcrow By addressing a post to me and essentially telling me I am 'wrong' to have the opinion I do, even though it is now backed up by Digital Foundry's video, that feels like criticism.

Of course its not PS3 graphics, neither is the Nathan Drake collection. That doesn't make that trilogy 'PS4' games. The difference is that these actually made it to release where as TLG didn't. I do agree that certain things may well of needed the extra power the PS4 has to fully realise, like Trico for example, a lot of the game is still an enhanced version of the PS3 developed core. Improved visuals, improved resolution, improved lighting/shadows etc are what you would expect from a remaster. The game-play (inc camera issues etc) are still routed in the PS3 era.

If FF15 didn't come out I would get LG

@BAMozzy I see that as replying to your comment and disagreeing, not addressing and telling you you're wrong. Maybe TLG game mechanics haven't altered much in the years (not many games have), maybe the camera is a bit dodgy (it's hardly alone there either) but it looks far better than any ps3 game I can recall.

@stevejcrow Of course it looks better than any PS3 game! So does the Last of Us remastered, the Nathan Drake Collection, Tomb Raider (definitive), Skyrim etc etc but these are still PS3 (era) games at their core. Just watch the DF video and you will see what I mean. A lot of the things we saw from the PS3 era, are still present in the final version and therefore can compare with the final product. In a lot of ways, it seems very much like comparing Skyrim on PS3 and Skyrim on PS4. Yes the PS4 does offer the developers to improve the visuals (not just boost resolution) in the same way Bethesda boosted the visuals with Skyrim - improved detail, improved lighting/shadows, increased vegetation etc but that doesn't stop the 'core' of it being rooted in the PS3 era. No way would say that the remastered Skyrim looks like a PS3 game - although it doesn't quite look like its a PS4 developed game either and that's how I see the Last Guardian.

So many people commenting on how good it looks/doesn't look.
Of course it doesn't look as amazing as Uncharted 4, it was going to be a PS3 game. That doesn't matter anyway, Shadow of the Colossus and Ico were amazing games regardless of how they looked.
What's your opinion on the actual game?

A 'Saving it for Christmas' option might be useful for the second question.

I'm hoping to get it for Christmas so I only played a little at the store. I did have a little bit of an issue with the camera in a tight corridor when Trico was taking up too much of the screen, but it wasn't that bad as IGN and a few other "reviewers" are making it out to be. It's not the prettiest game I've ever seen but it's not last generation graphics. It has its shortcomings but it's a solid 9/10

I'm only about 2 hrs in but I'm enjoying it immensely.
It looks nice, beautiful in a stylised way and runs really well so far.
The camera is a pain, I increases the speed which helped but it drifts back to where it wants to be leaving you to fight it quite a lot of the time.
The atmosphere of the game is fantastic, unlike anything out there at the moment and a really nice change. Highly recommended.

@wiiware not liking a game you like is not trolling.
I own and play on PS4 more than any other console.

This game however, looks dull and crap.

@adf86 The poll asked if people were still dazzled by the game after 10 years..he gave his opinion, as he does on most articles here. And he is one of the few that doesnt rely on PS to give him his opinion. And hes right! The game looks very dated and is not too "dazzly". Nostalgic, sure, but not technically impressive. @BAMozzy You are 100% correct, the game does look like a PS3 remaster, and its obvious.

Might be my game of the year. Such a joy to play. I don't understand the criticism that it 'looks like the a PS3 game'. So? It could look like a PSOne game for all I care. Its magic lies elsewhere. Some of my favourite games of all times have had serious technical issues, and it didn't damped my enjoyment a jot. I'd take a game like this at a shaky 20fps or whatever than many other AAA franchises at 4k60 any day.

@Fenriswold- do you really need AAA, best of class graphics to be dazzled by a game? Hyper Light Drifter dazzles me and that's just a bunch of pixels. There are PSOne, Saturn and SNES games that still dazzle me, because they're made of something more.

9 times out of ten I care at least as much about gameplay as atmosphere or narrative. I think Dark Souls 3 is an inconsistent mess with a paper thin narrative that makes no sense. It had great gameplay so I sank a fair bit of time into it.
I hear Psychonauts has a great story. Janky platforming? NOPE. I'm out.
SotC was an exercise in frustration and boredom for me. Big empty world getting in the way of getting to the janky gameplay. That and it's basically a Zelda game in overall structure, and I can't stand that formula. Oh, and I think the story is pretentious crap, and the protagonist is a selfish jerk.

That said, I love Daggerfall and Morrowind. Morrowind does have a good story and interesting atmosphere and design, so that makes up for a fair bit of the janky control and combat.
Daggerfall? Can't explain why I love it. It's ugly, repetitive, unbalanced, unfinished...

What I'm saying is if this is like SotC mechanically, I'll despise it, and the story probably won't appeal to me either. However, I can accept that others will feel differently.

_{Language -Tasuki-}

@BAMozzy Who cares where it came from. Is the game fun does play good plus a great story. Digital Foundry is a disease with their anoying FPS and graphics comparison. People leave a game because it's not running perfect even it is great. Well the same goes for you holding a hate campain because it something you don't like. Get a life and start gaming for fun.

I think it's a fantastic game. Is its a PS3 game? Is it b*llox!!! Is it the best looking game on the PS4? probably not, but, there are some absolutely stunning views within the game and the animation of Trico is something that has to be seen to be believed. Is it an insanely infuriating game at time? Good god, yes. You can sit there for ages trying to command Trico on what to do and he/she just sits there purring at you!!! Then, when you've sussed it out you're presented with yet another amazing set piece and a feeling of 'Aaah, that's why I love this game'.

Dont sit watching pointless FPS youtube videos and people with far too much time on their hands waffling on about detailed analysis of graphics. If you loved Ico and SOTC then do yourself a favour and buy this games.

@stupidget Well, as I hated playing SotC, I guess I'll skip it.

Same way if someone hated previous Elder Scrolls games I wouldn't recommend Skyrim. I like Skyrim, to be clear.

On the one hand I love it. Its as memorable and original as ICO and SotC. On the other hand the controls can be a frustrating mess and really took me out of the game (literally at some points as I needed to walk away); which in retrospect is also a lot like ICO and SotC and I still remember them fondly.

So after 8 hours of trying to play this "modern masterpiece" I decided to stop playing. I tried so hard to like it as the relationship between boy and Trico is special, but ultimately the gameplay was a big let down. I spent more times frustrated at the controls, camera and annoying AI than I did marveling at it's greatest moments.

The game looks great but runs terribly in most sections struggling to hit 30fps. This doesn't really bother me but was noticeable.

I'm glad some people have enjoyed it, but the gameplay just isn't good enough for me to consider this a masterpiece.

@BAMozzy ok I am going to make a comment here take it as a criticism i dont care....
TLG looks great im getting it for christmas yes it was originally coded for ps3 however.... I bet if you rip apart the game itself it will be a ps4 game infact im completely convinced it was reworked due to the fact what they wanted to do with trico was not possible with ps3 architechture infact it wasnt possible with computing at that time. Take a PC from 10 years ago could it comfortabley render Trico at a steady 30 fps in 4k ??? DF is interesting when comparing games that are multiplatform games but like cod fifa pes etc, when its a single platform game it makes no sense at all yes it does make me realise I will need a 4k ps4 which I will be purchasing soon but why are you being so negative you can see the game isnt a ps3 remaster no ps3 remaster can do things like render individual feathers on Trico.

@Ypmud Does Skyrim Remastered look like a PS3 game? NO! Look at the environment, the water, the lighting etc. Resolution itself isn't enough to make this a PS4 game although we do know that the PS3 wasn't able to cope with rendering 1080p resolutions. Skyrim can run at 4k on a Pro but its still a 'remastered' PS3 game at its core!

I feel the same way about the Last Guardian. Its clear that visually its superior to the standards we expected from the last generation and not only has it had a higher resolution increase, its also had the level of visual detail increased too - what you may expect from a remaster.

Its possible that the vision they had for Trico initially was too complex for the PS3 generation. I am not talking about the feathers but the AI and movement. I am sure that they would have kept a similar look to the original reveal to keep processing down a bit but the overall look hasn't changed that much. Its still the same shape, size and retain's much of the same core design.

The engine of course has been upgraded. Its been ported into a newer engine but the core code is still the core code that was used to build much of the game for the PS3 console.

Whilst many remasters look much better than their PS3 release, they often don't look quite as good as a 'built for' PS4 generation game. This is how I feel about the Last Guardian. Incidentally, I was saying this long before it released and before Digital Foundry did their Technical Breakdown.

Talking of Digital Foundry, I think they do a great job. Its not just about resolution numbers either but the level of visual effects, the quality of shadows, lighting, anti-aliasing etc. They are looking at how far off from the 'standard' we expect a developer delivers. If a game is targeting 60fps, they look at how close the game comes to achieving it. Its like buying Internet which say you can get up to a certain speed but often you average a lot lower. You pay for 80Mb download and get 45Mb - this is the same principal. I wonder how many developers take Digital Foundries findings and then patch a game afterwards - The Last of Us at 60fps on Pro? Its not always negative either as they were full of praise for the technical achievements in Uncharted 4 for example. At the end of the day, you can use their information or not but at least you know what you are getting and how far off that can be from the target - not just frame rate but resolution too as we see more and more games opting for dynamic scaling. Doom for example is a 1080/60 game on all formats but on XB1, the majority is at 900/55 for example (although can drop into the 700's). It didn't stop people buying it on XB1 but just lets people know how the game performs on their chosen platform.

Anyway just because the Last Guardian wasn't released on PS3, doesn't mean that much of the game wasn't built for the PS3 and then 'remastered' for the PS4. Just because the 'remaster' work looks above what the PS3 could have handled (that's generally what you expect from a good remaster) doesn't make it up to the standard of 'built for' PS4 games! It doesn't change the fact that the 'core' of the Last Guardian is PS3 code that has been ported into a newer engine.

There is no need to get defensive or cry because the game at its core was built for the PS3. There is no need to have a go at me because I can see this even if you refuse to - just because its a Sony exclusive or one of those 'niche' Japanese games that only Sony offer.

@BAMozzy your making a huge song and dance about it then getting all hurt when we all come back at you !

@BAMozzy it looks nothing like a ps3 game btw i think you will find most ps3 games were only 720p and im 100% sure this was pointed out that the textures are not indicitive of a game that is 720p so please carry on with your it looks like a ps3 remaster

@Ypmud Either you are deliberately missing what I said or really are missing the point.
I said this looks like a REMASTERED game!! Not that it looks like a PS3 game. Remastered games also have textures, lighting etc updated to fit the resolution (although in this case not updated that much! Watch the DF video and they say that not all textures are brought up to date!!). Show me one time where I said this looked like a PS3 gane - not remastered, not updated with only a resolution increase? NOT ONCE have I said that. It doesn't stop the game looking like it was a PS3 game that has been remastered, doesn't stop the core game-play feeling like it was a PS3 game with PS3 era camera angles etc.
Does Skyrim Remastered look like it was a PS3 game? NO! Because the developer improved lighting, textures etc to bring the game more up to date visually but it still looks (and plays) like its a 'remastered' game as opposed to built for PS4 generation! Skyrims water for example looks nothing like PS3 era's water does it? However the overall look still retains that 'remastered' look. Its not as good as Uncharted 4, Horizon:ZD etc for example - games built for next generation technology!
The Last Guardian looks like it was built for last generation but had the visual tweaks to try and bring it forward - that means increasing the resolution, updating the visual presentation - including textures, lighting etc but still can't hide its core code.
I am sorry you can't seem to grasp what a 'remaster' often means. Its not a Backwards Compatible port where everything looks like it did (or would have done had they actually bothered to work on this and release it) - with (upto) 720p resolution and the level of textures/lighting etc that the PS3 could cope with. Its a 'remaster' and therefore has things like this improved but still can't improve it enough to look like it was made for PS4.

ok all df has really said is to get the best performance out of the game you need to have ps4 pro running at 1080p mode this will give best performance lol i watched the first videos regarding this as im actually interested in buying a ps4 pro this game looks nothing like a remaster game shall we take skyrim or the last of us as examples ??? I do believe this blows them both out the water I do believe sir you need to take a trip down to specsavers for an eye test.

End of

bear one other thing in mind about this game most of the videos we have seen are in enclosed areas once your outside it looks unbelievable i watched sammy's video on his pre-review and was flabbergasted once you went outside and saw trico oustide it eyewatering (in a good way)