Because I'm not sure if I do.

I got a PS4 Pro and Rise of the Tomb Raider and it gives you different display options.

-An enhanced graphics mode with turned up effects. It's 1080p, 30fps.

-An enhanced frame rate mode that goes up to 60fps but it turns out certain graphical effects.

-an enhanced resolution mode that runs in 4k but it's 30fps and missing some graphical effects.

All modes seem pretty good but, whenever I play one mode I keep feeling like I'm missing something. Smoothness, effects, or resolution? It's hard to pick one. And, to be totally honest, I doubt I'd notice or care about a difference if the developers hadn't given me a choice.

So is choice good or should the just be a standard, optimized experience for the hardware (one for Pro, one for Vanilla)?

I like options when I'm gaming on my PC. I don't like them on consoles. I have no reasons for that. It's just how I feel about it. =P

Developers should just figure out what works best on the console and stick with that imo.

I'm leaning towards no, basically because of my experience with Project cars and Dirt. I don't mind a few graphical options, let me turn of dof and motion blur any day, but I do mind the lazy approach to controller support. No thanks to having to go through a whole bunch of options to fix driving with a controller yourself. In the end nothing really works and you're either constantly trying different settings with different cars or simply give up and try to get used to either a twitchy fish tailing car or laggy and sluggish responding car.

The more options you get, the more it seems devs didn't really have a good idea of what they wanted for the game. Ofcourse on PC it's necessary due to the differences in available cpu, gpu and ram. On console devs should have a clear vision and make it work.

If the game is better in 60fps, they should spend all their time optimizing to get the most out of the 60fps experience. Not dividing resources between 3 modes.

I like software options (e.g. 720p/60 Hz vs. 1080p/30 Hz), but I don't like hardware options (e.g. PS4 vs. PS4 Pro). Software options are pretty much unconditionally a win for every gamer, but hardware options make it more difficult to know what to get, and could ultimately end up costing more due to upgrade costs. I don't mind upgrades with PC because there's no generations and I can decide when to upgrade, but with consoles, the console manufacturer has much more control over the situation. A part of the problem is the lack of software options. I like 60 FPS, and I'm willing to sacrifice some graphical quality for that. It's possible on PC but not on consoles. As a result, if I don't own a better model of the console, there's a chance I'm getting an inferior experience with regard to gameplay, which is not OK for me.

Choice, and the 4K mode is the best imo.

If you want graphics go for 4K and if you want FPS go for 1080/60.

There is pretty much no reason to run 1080/30

You do realize that all the 3 modes is doing is moving sliders behind the scenes right? They are not "dividing resources"

Ah the mythical sliders. It doesn't work that easily. You don't get stable performance by adjusting a few sliders on PC. You get a range between min and max fps and you try to find a minimum point that's acceptable while leaving some overhead unused. Console games usually get optimized to take advatage of all available resources. Not every effect nor every scene scales the same with sliders, far from it. Different groups of geometry, textures and effects react differently to adjusting some sliders.

The resources that get divided is those of the developers trying to optimize for 3 different modes, instead of concentrating their efforts on getting the most out of a single mode. Having 2 different sku's already adds more work, with extra modes the workload keeps growing. Or you gould get the same situation as on PC where your hardware is never really used to its optimal potential. Which is what we're currently seeing with a lot of pro patches, simple accross the board resolution upgrades to a point where hopefully it still runs as good as in the optimized base version.

Well, options are better than nothing. Then again, I really liked options in the past like how in the fifth generation because you could choose between the Neo Geo CD, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, 3DO, Amiga CD32, FM Towns Marty, PC-FX, Apple Bandai Pippin, Atari Jaguar, Casio Loopy or Playdia. Having only 3 options really limits the excitement. Although I guess graphical options are not nearly exciting as console options.

I was worried about the excact same thing. Fist bump bro.