4K comparison OG vs S up to the fog boss.

[Khronikos]

I think I can officially say that Project Rebuild has made the S version the best overall, though, as outlined in the latest posts, there are still a few things that stand out at the moment that some people might not enjoy.

https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonquestxisdefinitiveedition?tab=popular+%28all+time%29

Some might still prefer the OG for various reasons, but this comparison is mostly not useful for people modding anymore.


For my comparison, OG first then S version at 44 brightness with Post Processing on 3. OG has SMAA injected and ini tweaks for draw distance, but they don't interfere much with any of the comparisons. I couldn't get Reshade to work on demo.

Ini tweaks on the S DO NOT match the original draw distance. You will see all kinds of things that pop in here and there, and there is simply no way you can get the S to look as good as the OG version.

Personally, I feel OG with post-processing on 1 instead of 3 is best and then brightness closer to 50. The post processing in this game is not well done, and it just tends to overbrighten everything. The game gets way too bright on 3 and looks odd with excessive bloom in cities and night settings. But this comparison is with the settings all on full.

Fastica's gif comparison: this best illustrates how much was changed.

GIF: https://ibb.co/x574d90

GIF: https://ibb.co/hWKYRvG

Photo comparison: https://imgur.com/a/3D8piY3

My observations:

Inconsistent lighting between the two. S version usually the harder hit, with lack of light pouring in on trees and grass. It looks a lot duller in places. But there seem to be places where there is a touch more shadow and lighting. There is a complete and utter lack of shadowing on places that you can see in fastica's comparison. Cliffs and things appear to be very poorly done in certain places, but mostly the same in others. It's really all over the place.

There is a stronger specular effect on water in the first cave. The last photo from the cave is an improvement on S due to different lighting. Water is okay on original, and blends a little more, but S seems more refined and epic looking with bigger FOV. It's not clear to me how water is changed in later areas though. Further comparisons are needed.

That's the best of it by far. It's mostly downhill from there. Fastica's photo comparison shows the clipping textures on rope in downtown, because the models don't actually support these textures. This goes for a lot of the models, which now look like PS3 models at best. The geometry levels are pathetic in places, and the shadows, lighting, and grass have all been decreased an entire gen.

Characters are hit HARD in the S version. Right off the bat you can see the stubby fingers and complete change of detail in the outfit. Awful IMO. Grass has been massacred. Shadows and grass do not move or follow from the global lighting properly. A HUGE issue that will most likely never be modded.

Performance on the other hand is now much better in the S version, but the downgrades also go for objects in houses and towns. You will see these differences everywhere, and it's only subtle to a fanboy. Sadly, my comparison only covers the first 20m. You really start to see the differences when you get around towns and other areas.

My comparison of first 20m:

Full detail character OG: https://ibb.co/WzJBVyp
Stub fingers and lesser detail S: https://ibb.co/SfFvkbQ

Rock OG: https://ibb.co/x8Sjmg6
Rock S: https://ibb.co/swmTqjP

Sunlit grass OG: https://ibb.co/Tc9617k
Shaded grass S: https://ibb.co/c3fFmvp

Full grass OG: https://ibb.co/9wt0hBx
Grass is nuked S: https://ibb.co/CsRmDFZ

Rock OG: https://ibb.co/KVmtJzP
Rock S: https://ibb.co/RvXKQRn

Cliffside OG: https://ibb.co/GxgcC13
Cliffside S: https://ibb.co/TbNxTrC

Normal hair OG: https://ibb.co/64J1cfd
Bad hair day different shadows S: https://ibb.co/xJ1srrf

Overlook OG: https://ibb.co/86Qrt2m
Overlook S: https://ibb.co/Fbw0xvD

Water in Cave OG, blends well, somewhat murky: https://ibb.co/1rmJJxg
Water in Cave S new effects: https://ibb.co/zJsSBDq

Sunlit tree cave OG: https://ibb.co/9c0vxyV
Toned down sun in cave S: https://ibb.co/mBrmJVF

Sun shining through OG: https://ibb.co/K5Z2HP2
Missing sun lighting S: https://ibb.co/cgvBBYG

Symbols in cave OG: https://ibb.co/HNRnhtf
Symbols in cave S: https://ibb.co/kD4mwy5

Fog boss OG: https://ibb.co/hgKySYX
Fog boss S: https://ibb.co/4VD081d

Dark water cave OG: https://ibb.co/qRbrs9T
Lit and lovely water cave S: https://ibb.co/r78znrC


While the Switch/S version has a few new features, it's really barely anything to write home about other than the QoL improvements or the 2D mode. The quest is arbitrary, but some of the QoL features are very nice. I feel the 2D is fairly basic looking with low-key animation. I've never needed to use a forge outside of a campfire. In fact, it makes it more difficult, which is the whole point for me on this very easy game.

I think people forget the orchestral mod has CD quality sound sources from a variety of past soundtracks too, making the tracks actually better quality and more creative than the S version, I enjoy the older tracks compared to the stuff they have for this game.

I will be continuing my save on the original at this point. The vanilla game is already too long from what I can read. What do you guys think about all the differences in graphics and sound on the demo?

[Tim Allahn SnAckbarr]

OG: https://ibb.co/dWv8Nfb

DE: https://ibb.co/r78znrC

I'd say the second one shows off some of the lighting improvements in the S version -- looks nicer to me.
----
All-in-all, nice comparison! The comprehensiveness is appreciated :)

[Khronikos]

Originally posted by Tim Allahn SnAckbarr:

OG: https://ibb.co/dWv8Nfb

DE: https://ibb.co/r78znrC

I'd say the second one shows off some of the lighting improvements in the S version -- looks nicer to me.
----
All-in-all, nice comparison! The comprehensiveness is appreciated :)

I agree I like that little bit there, but I don't know how accurate it is.

But then you have these shots which look worse on S by quite a margin. The lighting from outside is entirely gone in the second set.

OG: https://ibb.co/9c0vxyV
https://ibb.co/mBrmJVF

OG: https://ibb.co/K5Z2HP2
https://ibb.co/cgvBBYG

I think a lot of the charm is lost with the S lighting now.

And the specular wave effect is WAY overdone. The lighting is not even on top like in the OG, so why are all the waves looking like they are sun shining down on them?

Water looks good just inaccurate. I don't mind the water too much in the OG. It's not the greatest, but it does blend a little better.

[Noir]

is that the Switch version from the S screenshots? Because the resolution is not that low on PC. Or were you running it in the lowest res possible?

[Khronikos]

Originally posted by Noir:

is that the Switch version from the S screenshots? Because the resolution is not that low on PC. Or were you running it in the lowest res possible?

I mean it's literally a 4K shot genius. Did you DL the whole shot?

I use 44 brightness, and everything else was the same. Minor ini tweaks and SMAA injected to OG. Reshade did not work on demo, but those differences are only on the OG version.

Maybe you are confused. This has antialiasing from in-game because the game has nightmarish jaggies otherwise. It still has jaggies on grass at 4K, though, it looks massively improved with injected SMAA and their own AA solution combined.

That causes a little blur obviously, but it's not that much.

I can shut off their in-game AA, but the grass becomes even worse then, and I only play at 1440p where the aliasing is still quite noticeable. These are all 4K in-game.

For this type of game super sharpness is not needed at all anyway. In fact, it hides some of the low res stuff.

Switch doesn't even begin to approach this image quality lmao.

[JDPUK]

MASSIVE difference in characters, wow, talk about a HUGE step down!!!!! Cloths, models etc., is truly a significant difference.

[Khronikos]

Originally posted by Tim Allahn SnAckbarr:

OG: https://ibb.co/dWv8Nfb

DE: https://ibb.co/r78znrC

I'd say the second one shows off some of the lighting improvements in the S version -- looks nicer to me.
----
All-in-all, nice comparison! The comprehensiveness is appreciated :)

I added a better shot of the OG version. I still really like the S version in this one shot. It looks quite nice, but again the specular effect is overdone with what you see coming in from the top. It's not lit like the OG one. Weird differences. The FOV appears more epic here. The shot would make you think the S version is glorious. What could have been.

https://ibb.co/qRbrs9T

This part is nicely dynamic on the S version. Looking up the tree it is very nicely done. I like the sunlit tree in the one too, but the water is so vastly different. I am unsure if there would be all that specular lighting.

[Khronikos]

Originally posted by JDPUK:

MASSIVE difference in characters, wow, talk about a HUGE step down!!!!! Cloths, models etc., is truly a significant difference.

Also, you would THINK that character stuff would be so easy to port back in no? It's like they just threw away all their old assets. I just don't understand certain things like this in the newer engine.

[MelonGx]

1. OG + RTX3080 = 4K min 75 FPS.
S Demo + RTX3080 = 4K min 138 FPS.
It's 84% faster.
S cannot be so fast without dropping graphic quality.

2. Reshade works. I am using it to monitor FPS.

[Tim Allahn SnAckbarr]

I thought it was worth adding an update here:

We have a thread for DE graphics tweaks here

Also, since we now have access to the Debug Console in DE, it might be worthwhile making sure you match the Time of Day in your comparison shots.

Using the command:

ForceSetWorldTime 12 0 0 0

Will set the world time to noon exactly, for example.

[feelorange]

Switch version is great visually for it's hardware, disappointing though it's the lesser version visually for PC and other platforms

[JDPUK]

This is about the max that you can get this game to look, which IMO, is pretty close to the OG:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2280404304

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2280405116

[Alienated]

I wish we could swap character models with their og versions because the difference is unfortunately huge, and that combined with the flatter, more simple lighting makes the game lose a lot of its visual charm and high fidelity feel.

[yoship]

Originally posted by Tim Allahn SnAckbarr:

I thought it was worth adding an update here:

We have a thread for DE graphics tweaks here

Also, since we now have access to the Debug Console in DE, it might be worthwhile making sure you match the Time of Day in your comparison shots.

Using the command:

ForceSetWorldTime 12 0 0 0

Will set the world time to noon exactly, for example.

Nice setting, it should provide a more accurate comparison. Noon time is great for comparison taking shadows out of the equation since sun at noon casts no/ minimum shadows. But for comparing with shadows at all other times, setting time to something like 3 or 4 pm would be more appropriate.

[Khronikos]

Originally posted by Tim Allahn SnAckbarr:

I thought it was worth adding an update here:

We have a thread for DE graphics tweaks here

Also, since we now have access to the Debug Console in DE, it might be worthwhile making sure you match the Time of Day in your comparison shots.

Using the command:

ForceSetWorldTime 12 0 0 0

Will set the world time to noon exactly, for example.

This was a comparison of the first 20m. There is no difference in the time of day. I literally loaded the game from the start, and then went up to the various areas in the first 20m. Please stop trying to make it sound like the OG version is worse than the DE. You really are starting to sound like a propagandist.

My comparison still stands, and it is objectively unbiased. Same time of day.

[Khronikos]

Originally posted by Alien-ata:

I wish we could swap character models with their og versions because the difference is unfortunately huge, and that combined with the flatter, more simple lighting makes the game lose a lot of its visual charm and high fidelity feel.

The difference in grass and character models is gigantic, and so far nothing will be done about it. It's really that simple, and all kinds of lighting is missing from the DE as well.

A couple things like water are different, and there are a few spots which seem improved with lighting on the DE. But the grass is something that is absolutely ridiculously nuked in the DE to the point there is no way I could go back to it.