Watch Dogs 2 Looks Tidy on PS4 Pro But Has a Few Performance Dips

Seems the PS4 Pro cant escape FPS or Rsolution a lot of the time.

Im no deep hardware expert but I cant help but think buffing the CPU instead of a simple overclock wouldve made the experience premium. Theres just something about pushing graphical power and not pure processing power that bugs me, and it may well be the reason this is occuring. I know in some cases the base PS4 suffers from a CPU bottleneck at least accorfing to folks I know.

After we hit 60/1080 constantly as standard how about getting higher poly stuff? Make things look smooooooth as butter. Of course running like butter is priority.

It seems like this hardware has this real potential, but its not being pushed as much or optimised by Sony or third parties respectively. Maybe 1 guy per game isnt as easy as its made out to be?

Iunno. It just seems a little messy. Thats the PS4 Pro to me. Messy reveal (Why do a 720p live stream to show 4k?), messy messaging (Apparently devs CAN charge for patches they are just advised but not forced not to) and messy and very inconsistent performance and support which is a shame as that performance is what this system needs to be justified as a product. Maybe in time?

@get2sammyb I can see the appeal here and outside of fun colour blind hdr shenanigans this is defintely a later in life purchase. I was optimistic but ive gotta sit this out for now.

Now to buy bulk coffee for friday.

Oh and watch dogs. As long as its not like driving on ice and it avoids /some/ Ubisoft hangups I think itll be a solid game. I actually do. As I say, first game can get a pass on things, cutting teeth and all that.

Just a shame this is what became of Driver.

They should add the option to play the game at 1080p with unlocked framerate on every game, it should be standard with the pro.

@BLP_Software Dev can't charge for patch, it's just translation mistake by kotaku, it has been cleared by real dev on neogaf. I don't know about very inconsistant performance, everybody thats already have it on gaf doesn't report inconsistant performance, only by running framerate counter that you can see it. Still, it will be great if there are option to play the game with original ps4 graphics and boosted framerate.

The issue I think is that the initial mandate that stated ALL games must run at the same or better frame rates also stated they wanted developers to push 1800p+ ideally. I don't know where the bottlenecking is occurring in these games but it is clear that 1800p+ is too ambitious for these games.

The games that miss the mark on frame rates in the Pro Modes are The Last of Us (1800/60 option - 4k/30 runs perfectly well), Skyrim (4k/30 - some dips that are not present on PS4) and now Watchdogs 2 (1800/30p). I don't know if its an 'easy' fix but maybe dropping the resolution down a bit would be more beneficial to the overall experience - especially after seeing how effective checkerboard rendering is with lower resolutions.

I am sure that over time we will see more options and better delivery of a Pro mode. No doubt the developers were 'busy' trying to get these games ready for release and in the case of Naughty Dog, working on U4's Pro mode as well as its upcoming DLC.

I know its only a few of the Pro enhanced games but then the Pro only benefits less than 5% of all available games at the moment!

@wiiware Id honestly agree with putting the option for base graphics with higher fps. Ill take higher fps anyday. Its not like PS4 Pro cant do the base graphics. I think Sony is missing a trick by giving its users options...regarding lots of things actually.

And yeah it looks like many games are trying 1080p60fps and missing, and heck some games on base PS4/Xbox One have to sacrifice either resolution for frame rate or vice versa. Maybe Pro shouldve aimed for that standard before higher res became an option? Iunno. It seems weird we are now chasing this higher fidelity and textures when the physical worlds we are seeing arent changing structure (poly count/topology/surface design) to look better and some games struggle with enhancements.

I hope, really hope, that the improvements become apparent. Id get a Pro for Ratchet and Clank but thats why I got a PS4 last year anyway.

With regards to the Sony mandate on minimum performance, was that just a rumour? If not they clearly dropped that policy, probably when little snags became apparent.

@JoeBlogs I'm a weirdo who can appreciate a higher resolution, but I'd like that fidelity to be smooth. Otherwise what's the point? It looks pretty but it comes with little skips, ruining the fidelity and image, which sadly is an experience killer, since the PS4 Pro and devs want "Experiences".

I'm also not fond of the resolution first issue. Sony being market leader means this is where the push now lies, in resolution, but I would greatly appreciate developers fully utilising the tech they have currently. Most aren't maximising use of the PS4 and it shows with often 900p on both systems showing there is still work to be done, but now Sony has led the resolution push and we are seeing the ill effects of such a concept on PS4 Pro.

Maybe it'll fix itself, but optimism isn't great.

And please, Sony, give us options. Youre the market leader currently, but do not let it slide in the "We know whats best mentality"

This is just getting ridiculous now.

That moment when you buy a Pro for better performance but games run better on the original PS4.

Yeah, a "beautiful step forward", alright.

Pixels over performance. Looks like a pattern is forming.
That and the response time of 4k sets... Great gaming experience... SIIIIIIIIIGH

@GBMatthew A bit like your comments. Dishounered 2 runs like trash on high end PCS but it's not the PCS fault it's lazy devs. Battlefield, Fifa, Ratchet and COD all run way better on the PRO and at much higher resolution. So it shows its down to the devs not the hardware guarantee you Scorpio will have the same issues but as devs get used to the hardware games will get better and better as optimization improves. Also all games are running much higher resolution on on the PRO compared to PS4 and Xbone. Your comments are sounding a bit fanboyish so I suggest you stop trolling playstation websites.

_{@SnowStormX -Language- Tasuki}

@SnowstormX I couldn't care less about the Scorpio that is irrelevant.

You have completely missed the point. Sony stated that Pro games must run equal to or better than the normal PS4. That is their policy and mandate however, thus far only a few have adhered to this. Forget about resolution that is expected from the Pro.

You are the one sounding like a fool with your inability to accept that things are currently not sorted out.

Sony needs to sort this quick by enforcing it's rule that the PS4 Pro frame rate on any game must not be lower than the base PS4 version. It's not acceptable that devs can just run the hardware into the ground in order to wow use with eye candy.

The reports also claim they are even introducing screen tear as well so they can push the graphics further. I'm out of here is we get screen tear again like the PS3.

It's really not going to end well if this trend continues. Gamers are expecting a smoother ride, not worse. The CPU and memory bandwidth are perfectly fine for a smooth frame rate as long as they don't overload it with graphics that the console cannot handle.

In the past, PC's were running games at 60fps with a similar hardware spec, so all that's changed is the games with the devs piling on way too much eye candy and ramping up the pixel count in order to sell Sony 4K HDR TV's.

I'm not ready to upgrade my TV yet, but all this isn't endearing me to buy a Sony TV at a later date if they just allow devs to create an inferior product for the 1080p gamers.

It's looking like 1080p gamers are taking the same hit as the 4K gamers but not getting the benefit of 4K or HDR to justify it. That is not right.

@justerthought At last someone else who gets it. I'm glad I'm not the only one bothered by this and trying to raise awareness and thereby encouraging Sony to respond by .stopping this nonsense.

What's the minimum response time on any 4k TV? How about with HDR on?
Why would anyone want to deal with that?
I'm annoyed that mine has 5ms (or was it 10? It was on sale and my last one had died...). How on earth could anyone deal with 30ms?
I think this may be why we don't have any news of patches for FromSoftware games, which have frame-perfect hit detection.

This is madness.

Have fun with your Sega 32X. At least you don't need to risk breaking your system. My 32X released smoke.
Oh, but it only cost my 20usd on clearance. I didn't have to buy a whole new system to find out that the games were worse.

this article feels very very passive aggresive.

I dont care if it's 1 or 2 frames, I paid £350 for a premium device I expect premium performance.

Its even worse because I'm forced into this mode and can't change to having just on 1080p with the FPS.