new remaster or rtx? which looks better?!

[reveilleun]

discussion!

[drj3rk]

RTX looks better. It does have a few surfaces that are a little too shiny for what they should be, but otherwise, it's quite a bit better. It's actually kind of surreal because the lighting is more realistic than the actual game, so it gives you an additional feeling of really being there, but in a place that shouldn't exist. :D Like a dream or something. I find this interesting.

The new remaster looks great though. It's kind of like the best looking version of the original as it was kind of intended I guess?

If you want to play Q2, I would say that either of these is the way to do it. I lean toward RTX though.

[Cannonaire]

I've always loved tech demos, and I've been waiting for ray tracing to finally make it into games since like 1998 (it's a technology from the 80s, if I'm not mistaken!), so I prefer RTX. HOWEVER, the remaster looks more like Quake 2 and it is more graphically consistent. They are both good in different ways. The RTX guys are working on porting it over to the remaster I believe, so hopefully it is only a matter of time then we won't have to choose.

[Profugo Barbatus]

I think RTX captures how the game looks as you remember it from playing as a kid - a fascinating experience, even if how you remember it looking isn't really how it ever did. Meanwhile, the remaster keeps the core of the games visuals, and just polishes them up.

I think I'm preferential to the remaster - RTX looks great on my 4080, but the grainy nature is still present, while the remaster is very very clean.

[Cannonaire]

Originally posted by Profugo Barbatus:

...RTX looks great on my 4080, but the grainy nature is still present, while the remaster is very very clean.

That's the thing, people are complaining that the "high resolution textures" don't even look good and don't match the Quake 2 aesthetic, but if you turn off texture filtering they are indeed still very low resolution, but they hide it really well because they are PBR and it looks like they have bumps on the surface. I think they suit Quake 2 very well. And absolutely, Q2 RTX looks like I remembered Quake 2 looking when I was a teenager. But a lot less pixelated. You can bet I had texture filtering on when I played it on my Voodoo 2 back then.

[Sarabi]

the RTX mod is really neat from a tech standpoint and I dont regret playing it at all (playing with the real time of day lighting on was pretty novel). But Its texture work really highlighted how some areas have far too many repeating textures. The remaster (with texture smoothing off for lovely crisp texels) Is fabulous though, the revamped lighting really brings out the absolute best of the original assets, plus the sliiiightly upgraded weapon/monster models really epitomise that 'how I remember it' aesthetic, toss in the lovely CRT filter and it's without a doubt my favourite way to play quake 2.

[VVanTuz2OO2]

Depends on the opinion, I STILL prefer the original Software mode looks of the original over both RTX and Remaster. RTX upscales looks soulless and Remaster has some details wrong and with oversaturated palette, but the vibe is almost right if not the colours.

To me personally until many things that made Q2 what it is (like machine gun recoil) are back or can be toggled in the settings Remaster is not the main way to play the game, but it is still a good option.

[randir14]

RTX looks technically better but it also ruins the atmosphere and is like lipstick on a pig.

[V I D A L]

It's subjective. RTX obviously look very impressive and technically leaps and bounds ahead of the remaster, however... the overall experience suffers as so many areas are very dark and hard to see. You have to be constantly using flares or shooting your pistol to light up the path in front of you. It's a beautiful visual spectacle, but a bit of a chore to play.

The remaster offers a more pleasing and authentic experience. At the end of the day, those low poly models (which are enhanced in the remaster) simply blend better with retro graphics and nostalgic feel.

I played through RTX all the way once... but wouldn't do it again. This remaster will be my way to go from now on every time I want to revisit Quake 2.

[Katrina Steiner]

Purely visually I thought RTX looked better. I'm interested to see more older games being given the ray tracing treatment, the results were very impressive with Quake 2.

That being said overall I enjoyed playing the remaster more because of the other features added to it. But I know the question was specifically about which version looks better.

[Cannonaire]

Originally posted by V I D A L:

You have to be constantly using flares or shooting your pistol to light up the path in front of you. It's a beautiful visual spectacle, but a bit of a chore to play.

They added a flashlight (no battery) in the update earlier this year. You can change the parameters and make it very big area if you want. Of course, that was after I had already played through with the time set to night.

[ULTRA]

The KEX port looks blurry as hell for various reasons but it's at least more consistent than RTX

[Zeriel00]

Why can't they add RTX to the remaster? is it difficult? I've seen fans do it with Minecraft...