When did you first notice that grafix had diminishing returns?

[Pemalite]

linkink said:

curl-6 said:

Engines evolving and new methods of rendering showing up happened last generation too. But in addition to that came big strides in hardware utilization that just haven't happened this time cos the hardware was easy to harness from the get go.

This is just speculation on your part. We don't how big the strides were in hardware utilization were this gen, it's safe to assume ps3 were probably much bigger because it of how complex it was, we can't say ps4 didn't have big strides in hardware utilization when results show it clearly has. Before ps4 came out no developer has ever tried to max out a Radeon HD 7850, with a a weak  8 core Jaguar CPU. Besides engine evolving, and new rendering techniques  alone can be  more impressive  then better hardware utilization  and rendering techniques combined, it just depends how advanced the former is. 

Wanna know how subjective people opinions are in progress here is a video comparison GEARS 1-3 on 360, and most think gears 1 looks the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR0wncErTw&t=134s

Honestly to me  The progression in ps4 and ps4 look very similar, kind find ps4 to be more impressive.

Developers usually get pretty high hardware utilization early on in a console generation.
The Xbox 360 saw dramatic improvements in visual fidelity over it's lifetime, Halo 3 was utilizing the Xbox 360's hardware 100%, yet Halo 4 is a massive leap over that title visually.

But as time goes on... Developers work out which effects the hardware is better at and which effects tank performance... They then get rid of the effects which tank performance and use that freed up processing to bolster other effects for a larger overall improvement in visuals.

Gears 2 and 3 were certainly a step up over Gears 1, the rendering pipeline alone was overhauled rather substantially.