Wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle.
The best description of BF2042 graphics I can give. Yes, the game has higher-resolution textures. But BF5 has a larger number of small-scale assets that make its maps feel "alive". BF2042 bet on a large scale and empty maps.
Orbital - Huge rocket assembly and the rocket itself. Big, yes. Looks good in a trailer, but plays and feels like trash. That's how every map feels in 2042. Just an empty space filled with a couple of large-scale assets and a sprinkle of smaller ones for good measure.
BF5 on the other hand has smaller maps that are filled with small details. There is very little wasted space. Even maps like Hamada feel alot more packed than lets say Manifest.
@Anobix wrote:
I remember reading/watching early on since launch (no idea if it was changed later) that a lot of the detailed objects of the level (a large nut/bolt on Orbital) had an insane number of polygons/vertices that by themselves is whatever, but a bunch of them adds up performance hits with no real visual impact.
This is a non-issue. 2042 has LODs (like most modern games should), this was also extra obvious with the notorious PS4 Falck in the main menu picture that was floating around launch, you know the one. 2042 is CPU bottlenecked, whatever the number of polygons is, it's not high enough to cause issues.
Nearly sure that the reason it looks as it does is because of the poor visibility that people complained about in BFV, but you can't win I suppose.
Some of the newer maps are actually akin to the look of BFV too.
Whatever your opinion of it, it actually looks good if you analyse it.
Frostbite gets a lot of hate but it's an incredible engine.
Just hard to work with it in it's former state it seems.
From what I've read over the last few years it has been a priority for them, and hopefully they've improved it and reduced it's complexities and issues for the next game.
If you play solo on Redacted and follow the paths laid out, it's literally like playing a driving game, it's actually epic.
For me it's funny to hear people wanting Unreal engine for Battlefield, it may be more stable and easier to work with, but it is not on the same level.
@Gibl3tsI can definitely understand the poor visibility angle and it is something I dislike a lot about BFV, which is why I wondered if it's intentional. But there are other areas in the game where there is a lot of debris and garbage to hide around. I think parts of the game can be made to look prettier (like that indoor area in Flashpoint) without compromising visibility too much.
There are other games like CS2, or even CSGO before it, that maintain good visibility through more vibrant maps, while still having pretty visuals. I think this is the direction I'd want, I've liked pretty much all the reworked maps ever since Train years ago and CS2 only got better.
Though I have seen people complain that 2042 is "too colorful" despite it being less so than let's say Pacific Storm.
