Honestly, can graphics get any better than Crysis? How much is enough?

How far can technology go and what is the limit when graphics will reach to a point where improvements will only reach on one stagnant plain?

Honestly, I can't imagine anything getting better and more improved than Crysis. Seriously, can it get better than that? Will the next series of graphics chip-sets for a couple more hundreds of dollars really make a difference? Is it worth it for developers to develop games on a higher level at the cost of charging consumers to belch out money to upgrade?

I think playing Crysis with a graphics card at the highest quality is enough to last for the next ten even fifteen years. I think upgrades should finally reach a halt, because I think it can't get any better. More powerful chipsets will only show slight improvements, but I don't think there will be much of a significant difference.

Ray-tracing...

Edit- must be pretty young to think Crysis could last you longer then 5 years of looking "good."
But 2-3x longer then that and it will just look sad.

Look at PC gaming 10-15 years ago...

Crysis does look good but there is always room for improvement. I understand that maybe its not the best to spend a whole deal of extra money to improving already detailed models but hey ifa game has immersive details and sound it will sell.

I remember when GRAW first came out, it crippled many new machines but hey now its well a relatively average spec game.

I cant wait till crysis comes out though.. im gonna buy alright!!

i've read an interview of one of the creators of unreal engine 3 a couple of years back,in which he stated that for computer graphics too fool the human eye into thinking they're real,they'd have to be 10,000 times better---that came from the mouth of someone who made u-engine 3,so maybe he was just making a wild guess,but we must consider that "reality" has unlimited information,something that no PC ever will be able to render.i've kept my eye on the cryengine and unreal engine 3 for some time,and i can say that there is a lot more they could offer,but what bothers me the most is the lack of decent animations,enviroment interactivity and that sort of stuff...game makers are kina going the wrong way when trying to get the best graphics they can,and working less on other elements of immersion

Until the day comes where I don't need to use buttons/gamepads in a game, and I can run around with my actual body, nothing will be enough. :P

Seriously though... When we can play games with graphics equal to well done CGI.

I remember when i first saw the HL2 trailer, my jaw literally dropped, that was only about 4-5 years ago. dx10 revisions are already on the way, and with the upcoming g90s (1 terabyte of gpu power, twice the 8800 gtx) the industry looks like it has no intention of slowing down.

i've kept my eye on the cryengine and unreal engine 3 for some time,and i can say that there is a lot more they could offer,but what bothers me the most is the lack of decent animations,enviroment interactivity and that sort of stuff...game makers are kina going the wrong way when trying to get the best graphics they can,and working less on other elements of immersion.ziridel117

I agree with this. It's no good having the best visuals on the planet if your characters move around like robots or a flimsy wooden door stands firm after getting hit by a rocket.

Something that always impressed me in the No One Lives Forever games was the fluidity of the animations at the time. It was the animation and behaviour of the characters, more than the quality of the textures and effects, that brought the game to life.

The other problem with having near 'real-world' graphical quality is that it tends to highlight other areas that are not so good, such as animations and interaction, because the expectation is now there for things to react just as they would in the real world. Hence the reason why so many things can break immersion in the game world these days, such as characters getting caught up on scenery, barricades you can't climb over, doors that won't break, crates that won't move - or that bounce around as if they are completely weightless.

At the end of the day do we really want photo-realistic environments to walk around in if it takes a super-computer just to play a game? In my view a game is about entertainment, not just visual quality. Leave the photo-realism to movies and real life.

Unfortunately, I don't think devs will be satisfied until you can't tell the difference between a game and the real world. By then we'll probably just say "Tthis looks just like reality, so what's the point of playing it? I might as well just walk outside..."

I remember when i first saw the HL2 trailer, my jaw literally dropped, that was only about 4-5 years ago. dx10 revisions are already on the way, and with the upcoming g90s (1 terabyte of gpu power, twice the 8800 gtx) the industry looks like it has no intention of slowing down. Dabunzie

Terabyte = storage
Teraflop = floating point performance

[QUOTE="Dabunzie"]I remember when i first saw the HL2 trailer, my jaw literally dropped, that was only about 4-5 years ago. dx10 revisions are already on the way, and with the upcoming g90s (1 terabyte of gpu power, twice the 8800 gtx) the industry looks like it has no intention of slowing down. LordEC911

Terabyte = storage
Teraflop = floating point performance

I knew that, i was just making sure this board was on it's toes. Good job LordEC911, you win.

In 5 years Crysis looks like crap ..well maybe not. But I still remember people praising Doom's graphics and telling it looks almost real...EntwineX

It's funny you mention Doom because I'm playing Doom 3 right now. And even after all these years, it's still darn impressive and holds up quite well...but I think it's mostly due to its dark art direction more than anything. I think it's more difficult to make graphics look realistic in bright, regular settings, but Crysis looks like it's pulling it off.

[QUOTE="EntwineX"]In 5 years Crysis looks like crap ..well maybe not. But I still remember people praising Doom's graphics and telling it looks almost real...ASK_Story

It's funny you mention Doom because I'm playing Doom 3 right now. And even after all these years, it's still darn impressive and holds up quite well...but I think it's mostly due to its dark art direction more than anything. I think it's more difficult to make graphics look realistic in bright, regular settings, but Crysis looks like it's pulling it off.

Thats why theres HDR rendering

Reading an earlier post I have to agree saying that the environment can look real, but if the animation and details in the game look fake, then theres no advancements in the technology. Thinking seriously, what's the point of having a graphic card and CPU with some uber spec, when the only thing that uses the power is the environment? (excluding anims and AI) For example, Half Life 2 was an amazing game at the time of release, even now it's not doing so bad. But the crossbow that shoots out the searing metal straws kills the Combine at any point on the body, now if they made the game so that if I shot the combine in the hand, and nailed him to the wall, he'd be wailing and screaming and the animations showing him writhing in pain instead of a dull death. I know this may not tie into the graphical component of things, but who wants to play a beautiful game where whatever moves is a pain to look at?

Crysis does look absolutely amazing though, the realism, though in 10 years time will be a fossil, is significantly better than what we have today. I can't compare any game to the realism that Crysis can offer. (in terms of visuals) The crysis engine itself has virtually brought a paradigm shift into the world of computer graphics and visuals.

In relation to the thread, yes crysis is amazing, and does bring out the latest in current technology. But I wouldn't be so adamant that we have reached our limits, I'm sure that right now somewhere in the middle of nowhere in a room surrounded by thousands of terraflops of power are a group of people already setting into motion the wheels of visual design in 3D graphics engines.