Good post OP!
I'm on PC, and play at 1440P/2K @144Hz with the VH GFX preset, all the motion blur and DOF crap turned off, a couple three of the GFX settings on ultra, and Grassworks enabled. What ever else I might say about GRW...................I can't knock how great it's game world looks, especially with the increased draw/rendering distances compared to earlier Ubi titles.
The game world looks amazing, but the camouflage patterns on most of the clothing are horribly miscolored in comparison to their real life counterparts. While most of the guns look amazing as well, attachment placement is completely incorrect on a few weapons such as grip placement on the MK14, standard grenade launcher placement on the ACR, M4a1, and R5 and then the compM4 and ACOG placement on the L85a2 is also wrong.
I normally don't but a lot of merit into the graphics of a game, because so many different styles work for different games and for me graphics and frame rate don't make a game fun. That being said GR Wildlands is one of the few games that just has me stop in my tracks to take in the scenery, Skyrim being the other. I was standing on the highest mountain in Inca Camina at night the other day and just being able to see the lights and outlines of buildings clear across the map and vehicles on the road is beautiful. Looking from afar makes the world feel more alive than actually traveling through it. That being said, and so many others have said this, it feels like the majority of the development time was spent on the world and that core game mechanics, and AI was almost an after thought. I would have preferred a little smaller world and a little less detail to have mechanics and AI to match the Bolivia that Ubisoft managed to create.
I play on Xbox and just wow. I love this game with my entire HUD turned off. Once you start realizing how crisp and real looking the environments are, you see the true nature of the game. The HUD (markers/minimap especially) just ruin the immersive aspects of the game.
As far as the camoflauge not being exact, to that I say, yeah but it's close enough. There is definitely enough camo choices to make your character blend in with the environment. I love just the simple challenge of locating a downed friend who is camo'd so well I can't instantly find him. It adds a layer of realism to the game.
When looking at a distance or not focusing, things look amazing. It looks like being there, standing overlooking a valley.
When walking in the southeast pine forest, I can practically smell walking through the woods at my cabin. And I mentioned this in another thread, but the popping of the pines from sap heating on a hot day? That is attention to detail.
Objects look less real when next to them. They aren't quite at uncanny with objects, yet.
Flying at night. Looks just about exactly like flying at night, with car and city lights below.
Yeah the game looks good and all, but there is a game breaking annoyance for me. The difference in standing still and moving. Especially the Motion Blur, Sharpness and flickering in trees, grass and fences caused by the Temporal AA setting when moving. Hope they gonna fix this.it's not my system btw